Standings: Avalanche (38-30-5), Rangers (44-19-7)

NYR Leading Scorer: Marian Gaborik (35-31-66)
COL Leading Scorer: Ryan O’Reily (17-35-52)

NYR Goaltender: Henrik Lundqvist (51 GS, 1.88 GAA, .935 SV%)
COL Goaltender: Semyon Varlamov (44 GS, 2.65 GAA, .910 SV%)

Rangers Lines (probable):

Carl Hagelin-Brad Richards-Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky-Derek Stepan-Ryan Callahan
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brian Boyle- Brandon Prust
Mike Rupp-John Mitchell-Mats Zuccarello

Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Michael Del Zotto
Tim Erixon–Stu Bickel

Probable Scratches/Injuries:  Mike Sauer (concussion), Artem Anisimov (shoulder), Steve Eminger (undisclosed injury), Jeff Woywitka (healthy), John Scott (healthy), Anton Stralman (healthy)…courtesy of @AGrossRecord

Preview: Two words. Gabriel Landeskog. The 19-year-old Swede is playing in every situation and has likely saved Colorado coach, Joe Sacco and GM Greg Sherman from extermination. Whoever matches up with his speedy line is going to have their hands full tonight.

Earlier in the season Colorado wasn’t playing to par. Both the fans and Denver media begged ownership to fire the 2010 Jack Adams finalist, often citing too much line tinkering and an over-reliance on dump & chase hockey – sound familiar?

Alas ownership ignored their desperate pleas and the team has since elevated their play to the 7th seed in the Western Conference. More recently, Colorado has gone 12-5-3 in their past 20 games and are one of the hotter teams in the league right now.

On the Rangers side, our boys match up well with the Avalanche and while their defensive play against the Penguins was suspect, I suspect our top4 d-men to rebound. After all, I still believe that our core has enough of a mental database of success to carry their play through the adversity that arises late in the season.

May our aggressive forecheck be better than theirs…

Crazy Thought: Secondary scoring

Opposition Blog: http://www.jibblescribbits.com/ …interesting name

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