OPPONENT: San Jose Sharks

2010-2011 RECORD: 39-22-7

2010-2011 LEADING SCORER: Dany Heatley (22-34-56)

GOALIE: Antti Niemi (2.41 GAA, .920 SV%)

RANGERS LINES:

Vinny Prospal-Erik Christensen–Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky-Artem Anisimov-Ryan Callahan
Wojtek Wolski-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
Ruslan Fedotenko-Brian Boyle-Brandon Prust

Marc Staal-Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh-Mike Sauer
Bryan McCabe-Matt Gilroy

Henrik Lundqvist
Chad Johnson

Scratched tonight: Derek Boogaard (concussion symptoms), Alex Frolov (knee), Chris Drury (knee), Martin Biron (collarbone), Sean Avery (healthy), and Steve Eminger (healthy).

STATE OF THE BLUESHIRTS: After impressive wins over Ottawa and Philly last week, the Rangers played an absolute clunker against Anaheim on Wednesday night. In a must win game, they simply didn’t show up. Every game from here on out is a must win, and the Rangers will need 16 points in their final 13 games to solidify their playoff position. That starts with a win tonight against playoff-bound San Jose. Sean Avery is a healthy scratch tonight, the first time this year. Not sure if I agree with putting Erik Christensen on the top line, but you can’t really break up the other three lines. San Jose has been awful on the penalty kill all year, so the Rangers will need to use their newly acquired weapon and start putting some pucks in the net with the man advantage if they want to win this game.

CRAZY THOUGHT: Christensen isn’t invisible outside of the shootout.

OPPONENT’S BLOG: Fear The Fin

PREDICTION: Sharks 3, Rangers 2 (OT)

The game is at 10:30pm on MSG. The game will also be on 1050AM on your radio. Discussion here is always recommended too!

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