Ondrej Pavelec is set to make his second consecutive start tonight, as Alain Vigneault has elected to ride the hot hand and keep former franchise pillar Henrik Lundqvist glued to the bench in Montreal. Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis hears that former Ranger Derek Stepan was overwhelmed with emotion in his first game back at Madison Square Garden (NY Post)
• Larry Brooks relays Alain Vigneault’s reaction to the end of Joe Girardi’s tenure as New York Yankees manager (NY Post)
• Justin Tasch thinks that starting Pavelec two games in a row is a risky proposition for the Rangers (NY Daily News)
• Sean Hartnett discusses how Thursday night’s game could be the start of something special for Cristoval Nieves (CBS)
• Steve Zipay previews tonight’s contest between the Blueshirts and Les Habitants (Newsday)
• Nicholas Zararis lists five of Jeff Gorton’s untouchable assets (Blue Line Station)
• David Bruce compares the team’s catastrophically bad trade made at the 2015 draft to the team’s catastrophically bad trade made at the 2017 draft (Blue Line Station)
• Justin Rutherford offers his thought’s on New York’s current goaltending dilemma (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Matthew Golda analyzes how Cristoval Nieves can seize one of the Rangers’ openings down the middle (The Hockey Writers)
• Craig Morgan argues that the verdict is still out on the Derek Stepan trade (FanRag)
• Matt Calamia delivers a prospect update, with bits on Lias Andersson and Patrick Virta (Official Team Site)
• Media Availability: Alain Vigneault,(1:25) Ondrej Pavelec,(2:57) Brady Skjei,(2:01) and J.T. Miller (1:18) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Sean Leahy sat down with former NHL forward Paul Bissonnette about his transition away from hockey, life after retirement, and more (NBC Sports)
• Rory Boylen reminisces on three early season trades from the past ten seasons (Sportsnet)
• Russian powerhouse SKA St. Petersburg stated that due to Vadim Shipachyov’s current NHL contract, they and all KHL teams aren’t able to negotiate a KHL contract with the Chicago Wolves’ disgruntled forward (TSN)
• Jillian Wagner recaps the Vegas Golden Knights’ fifth consecutive win, as Oscar Dansk’s 32 saves backed Vegas to a 7-0 victory (Knights On Ice)/