The New York Rangers welcome the Los Angeles Kings to Madison Square Garden for a Saturday afternoon matchup (1:00 PM ET - TV: MSG Network - Radio: ESPN 880 AM). The Rangers will play their next four games against Western Conference opponents.
RANGERS RUNDOWN
The Rangers will wear their third jerseys today for the fourth time this season (2-1-0 when donning them). - New York will begin its third back-to-back set of the season
Against the Kings, the Blueshirts have won four of their last five games and have points in eight-straight home games against Los Angeles (6-0-2).
When the Blueshirts score four or more goals in a game, they are 10-1-1 and when they allow two or fewer goals, they are 13-1-0. The Rangers have allowed two or fewer goals in 13 of 15 victories this season.
New York’s 86.2 penalty kill percentage ranks second in the NHL and the 12 power play goals allowed by the Rangers are tied for the fewest in the NHL.
With a 54.3 percent clip, the Blueshirts rank tied for second in the NHL in faceoff percentage and have been 50 percent or better in 20 of 28 games this season.
The Blueshirts have the sixth most (tied) shots per-game in the NHL with a 30.4 clip.
Since the start of last season, the Rangers have posted a 51-2-0 record in 53 regular season games in which they have allowed two goals or fewer (not counting team goals awarded for shootout win).
The Rangers have scored 24 go-ahead goals in the third period dating back to last season which is the third most among all teams behind the Wild (29) and Hurricanes (26).
On the year, New York is 9-1-0 when leading after one period and 13-1-0 when leading after the second period. The Blueshirts are 12-2-0 when scoring the first goal of the game.
RANGERS AND KINGS CONNECTIONS
Rangers goaltender Jonathan Quick played parts of 16 seasons for the Kings, compiling a 370-275-82 record in 731 starts with a .911 save percentage and 2.46 GAA. In addition to winning two Stanley Cup championships with LA, he was a Vezina Trophy finalist twice (2011-12, 2015-16) and part of a William M. Jennings Trophy (award given to goalies on the team that had the fewest goals against) winning duo on two occasions, in 2013-14 and 2017-18.
Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski was drafted by the Kings in 2013 (5th Round) and across three seasons (2016-17 – 2018-19), skated in 54 games recording 11 points (6G-5A).
Kings head coach Jim Hiller skated in two games for the Blueshirts during the 1993-94 season.
Kings President Luc Robitaille played two seasons with the Rangers (1995-96 and 1996-97).
RANGERS PROJECTED LINEUP
Artemi Panarin -- Vincent Trocheck -- Alexis Lafreniere
Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Reilly Smith
Will Cuylle -- Filip Chytil -- Kaapo Kakko
Adam Edstrom -- Sam Carrick -- Brett Berard
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
Connor Mackey -- Braden Schneider
Zac Jones -- Victor Mancini
Igor Shesterkin
Jonathan Quick
BETWEEN THE PIPES
NY RANGERS: Igor Shesterkin
LA KINGS: Kyle Burroughs
SCRATCHED OR INJURED
NY RANGERS: K'Andre Miller (upper body), Urho Vaakanainen (upper body) - Scratched: Jonny Brodzinski, Jimmy Vesey, Chad Ruhwedel
LA KINGS: Trevor Lewis (lower body), Drew Doughty (ankle) - Scratched: Andreas Englund, Akil Thomas, Andre Lee
