The New York Rangers conclude the 2018 calendar year with a trip to St. Louis to take on the Blues on New Year’s Eve.
New York Rangers (16-14-7, 39 Pts.)
St. Louis Blues (15-7-4, 34 Pts.)
Television: MSG Network
Venue: Enterprise Center
The New York Rangers conclude the 2018 calendar year visiting the St. Louis Blues on Monday night.
The Rangers are coming off a huge 4-3 win over the Nashville Predators on Saturday. St. Louis is coming off a 6-1 loss at home to the Pittsburgh Penguins on Saturday.
As of late, the Blueshirts have been receiving bodies back as Jesper Fast (two goals, one assist) and Cody Mcleod (four hits, 10:48 time on ice) returned to the lineup on Saturday night. Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post reported on Sunday that coach Quinn announced Kevin Shattenkirk is set to return to the lineup for Monday’s game.
Quinn says Shattenkirk is in tomorrow, didn’t disclose who’s out. Also looking like Chytil will be a scratch. And Lundqvist in nets. #NYR
— Brett Cyrgalis (@BrettCyrgalis) December 30, 2018
Filip Chytil, who only played in just over 10 minutes Saturday night, is expected to be a healthy scratch on Monday. David Quinn continues to use the healthy scratch as a learning tool.
The Rangers are lead in scoring by Chris Kreider (20 goals) and by Mika Zibanejad in points, with 34. Henrik Lundqvist will get the start in goal, his 29th start of the year. He has an 11-9-7 record along with 2.87 goals against average and a .913 save percentage. Kevin Hayes is currently on a nine-point game streak ( 5 goals 11 assists 16 points ).
The St. Louis Blues are lead in goals (14) and points (34) by center Ryan O’Reilly. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo leads the team in ice time as he is averaging 24.25 per game.
The Blues are ranked 13th on the power play at 21.1 percent and 18th on the penalty kill with a 79 percent success rate.
This is the first of two contest against the Blues. The two teams will meet for a second and final time at the Garden on Mar. 29 at Madison Square Garden.
