Bantering Points: 2/7/17

After a day on the practice ice to prepare for tonight's game, the New York Rangers and Anaheim Ducks will face off tonight at 7:00 PM as the Rangers continue their home stand. With the last two Anaheim visits to New York providing memorable games,(here and here) look for these two teams to play yet another quality game. Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Larry Brooks hears from Pavel Buchnevich about what lead up to him dropping the gloves with Calgary Flames forward Kris Versteeg in first NHL fight (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay relays word from Kevin Hayes about the big-bodied forward's imminent return (Newsday)
• Sean Hartnett discusses how Chris Kreider has finally emerged as the franchise pillar the Rangers hoped he could become (CBS)
• Game Preview: New York will look to make Anaheim's east coast road trip one to forget as the two teams meet at Madison Square Garden tonight (CBS)
• Tom Dianora questions whether or not the Brandon Pirri experiment is almost over (The Hockey Writers)
• Jim Cerny gives an outstanding breakdown of the Rangers' victory over Calgary (The Hockey Writers)
• Dave Shapiro points out that tonight is You Can Play night at the world's most famous arena (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Brandon Cohen details why New York needs to have an open mind with regards to being sellers at the trade deadline (Blue Line Station)
• Drew McCaffrey ponders if Jimmy Vesey can avoid running into the dreaded rookie wall (Blue Line Station)
• George Ruggiero thinks Marc Staal's health will play a major factor the Rangers success down the stretch (Blue Line Station)
• Post Practice Interviews: Alain Vigneault,(4:27) Henrik Lundqvist,(3:42) and Kevin Hayes (1:20) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• In honor of the New England Patriots overtime, walk-off, history making, Super Bowl victory on Sunday night, Jared Clinton lists the top five most memorable overtime Stanley Cup clinching goals (The Hockey News)
• Greg Wyshysnki wonders who may step up to win the Selke Trophy as the NHL's best defensive forward if Boston Bruins forward Patrice Bergeron does not take home the award (Puck Daddy)
• Nick Kypreos reports that NHL players will be filling out survey's at the end of each period and game in order to survey ice conditions in each arena (Sportsnet)
• Garret Hohl dives into the issues with binning, Quality of Competition, and measuring scoring chances in hockey (Hockey Graphs)/

Do you know who the Ranger in the picture is?