The Florida Panthers hit the concrete jungle where dreams are made of for the first of three meetings this season with the 15-12-2 New York Rangers. The Cats will look to build on Tuesday night’s surprising 4-1 victory over the Carolina Hurricanes and keep the Rangers on playoff life-support. The last time these two teams tussled was on January 5, 2012, in New York, with the Rangers taking a 3-2 decision in overtime courtesy of a Marian Gaborik goal.
I would expect to see the Xenomorph and King Henrik in an all-Swedish duel in goal this evening. Lundqvist is 7-2 with a 1.22 GAA and two shutouts in his last nine times out against the Panthers. Rick Nash leads the impotent New York offense with 24 points (10G/14A). The Rangers are currently in a three-way tie with Carolina and the New Jersey Devils for the final two playoff slots in the Eastern Conference.
Puck drop tonight from the, legen, wait for it… dary Madison Square Garden is at 7 pm. If you’d like to put yourself into an Empire State of Mind, check out our friends over at Blueshirt Banter. The LBC GameThread gets cracking at 6:30, see you there.