Bantering Points: 1/26/17

Despite heading into last night's game against the Philadelphia Flyers on a three-game winning streak, the Rangers were unable to make it four, as they were shutout by Steve Mason and the Flyers by a 2-0 margin. With that, New York has entered the All-Star break on a sour note, but they'll have plenty of time to recharge for the stretch run before their next game on January 31st against the Columbus Blue Jackets. Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Highlights: PHI 2, NYR 0 (3:55 Video via NHL.com)
• Game Recap: New York's inability to solve Steve Mason costs them two points heading into the All-Star break (CBS)
• Larry Brooks discusses how this season's team has ushered in a new era of Rangers hockey (NY Post)
• Brett Cyrgalis explains why Mats Zuccarello's lack of goal scoring this season is a non-issue (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay hears from Alain Vigneault about how the coach would prefer a longer All-Star break instead of a "bye week" (Newsday)
• Justin Tasch notes that New York has gotten excellent value out of their rookie skaters through the first half (NY Daily News)
• Kevin Baumer examines Carolina Hurricanes' defenseman Ryan Murphy as a possible trade target for Jeff Gorton (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Dave Shapiro states his dream acquisition for the Rangers (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Drew McCaffrey disagrees with the school of thought that Michael Grabner is best utilized as trade bait (Blue Line Station)
• Michael Monti thinks that the Rangers will need Matt Puempel to stay healthy in order to keep winning (Blue Line Station)
• John Williams acknowledges that New York would have been best served trading Kevin Klein over the summer (Blue Line Station)
• Postgame Notes: Nick Holden led the team in hits last night. So, at least he's got that going for him (Official Team Site)
• Postgame Interviews: Alain Vigneault,(2:20) Henrik Lundqvist,(2:10) J.T. Miller,(0:52) and Ryan McDonagh, (1:05)/

Around the NHL:

• Mat Larkin lists the top five trade destinations for St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk before the trade deadline (The Hockey News)
• Ken Boehlke reports that the Vegas Golden Knights are almost finished setting up their pre-season schedule for the 2017-18 season (The Sin Bin)
• Elliotte Friedman authors another edition of 30 Thoughts (Sportsnet)
• Andrew Berkshire busts out the spreadsheets, and puts together the Eastern Conference "Analytics All-Star Team" (Sportsnet)/