Bantering Points: 12/13/16

After enjoying a day off, the New York Rangers are back in action tonight against the Chicago Blackhawks. These two teams met in Chicago last Friday at the United Center with the Rangers prevailing in overtime. With time to adjust and break down Chicago's system, New York will look to finish the season sweep when the puck drops later today. Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis believes that the Rangers decision to waive Josh Jooris in the name of flexibility will come back to bite them (NY Post)
• Larry Brooks acts as the voice of reason, stating that Alain Vingeault should refrain from starting another goalie controversy with another superstar netminder (NY Post)
• Brooks also broke down why Henrik Lundqvist will reclaim his spot as the team's starter sooner rather than later (NY Post)
• Justin Tasch reports that despite Antti Raanta's hot stretch, the Rangers' players still have faith in Lundqvist (NY Daily News)
• Steve Zipay speculates whether Alain Vigneault will continue to ride Raanta's hot hand, or go back to Lundqvist ahead of tonight's game (Newsday)
• Brandon Cohen offers ten thoughts to summarize New York's first 30 games of the season (Blue Line Station)
• John Williams points out how the Rangers penalty kill returning to form has helped the team win games (Blue Line Sation)
• Tom Dianora discusses how Brandon Pirri broke his long slump against New Jersey, and what it means going forward (The Hockey Writers)
• Jim Cerny hasn't lost sight of two other storylines surrounding the Rangers in spite of Antti Raanta's play (The Hockey Writers)
• Prospect Report: Sergey Zborovskiy, Brad Morrison, and Igor Shesterkin were the New York's Three Stars of the Week among prospects (Official Team Site)
• He played 111 games on Broadway after coming over in a trade with the Blackhawks in 2003. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Boris Mironov (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Greg Wyshynski touches on the Olympics, the league's concussion protocol, and more in his column (Puck Daddy)
• Bob McKenzie talks about the buzz around the World Junior A Challenge ahead of next June's NHL draft (TSN)
• Luke Fox noticed that former St. Louis Blue Wayne Gretzky had a cameo in the most recent episode of "The Simpsons" (Sportsnet)
• Philadelphia Flyers forward Jakub Voracek, NEw York Rangers goaltender Antti Raanta, and Columbus Blue Jackets forward Sam Gagner were named the NHL's Three Stars of the Week (NHL.com)/

Do you know who the Ranger in the picture is?