Bantering Points: 2/19/17

Today is kid's day at Madison Square Garden, as the New York Rangers welcome the Washington Capitals into town. The Capitals are on pace to become the first team since Alain Vigneault's Vancouver Canucks in 2010-11 and 2011-12 to win consecutive Presidents' Trophies, so today's contest should serve as a good test to see where the Rangers are as a team. Here are today's news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis hears from Henrik Lundqvist about what the team must do to contain Alex Ovechkin (NY Post)
• Cyrgalis also discussed what the Rangers are doing in an attempt to fix their recently anemic power play (NY Post)
• Steve Zipay ponders if St. Louis Blues defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk is a realistic option for New York to pursue (Newsday)
• Justin Tasch relays word that the Rangers will be retiring Jean Ratelle's #19 next season (NY Daily News)
• Game Preview: Washington and New York will both look to bounce back from having their respective six game winning streaks snapped (CBS)
• Donavan Burns writes that Pavel Buchnevich sitting in the press box is something that Alain Vigneault can't afford to happen regularly (The Hockey Writers)
• Pat from BSB reminds us that perspective matters when judging moves at the trade deadline (Blue Seat Blogs)
• Alexandra Russo believes that New York's offense could become unstoppable with contributions from the team's defenseman (Blue Line Station)
• Post Practice Interviews: Alain Vigneault (4:48) and Henrik Lundqvist (3:10)
• He appeared in 30 games for the Rangers during the lockout-shortened 2013 season, and was waived after a paltry 0-1-1 stat line through 30 games. Yesterday's player in the picture was.....Jeff Halpern (Wikipedia)/

Around the NHL:

• Sean Leahy passes along video of a funny incident from the ECHL last night, as the Fort Wayne Komets retired Colin Chaulk's number, but the banner was raised to the rafters upside down (Puck Daddy)
• The Florida Panthers knocked off the Los Angeles Kings with a 3-2 win on home ice yesterday, pushing them into third place in the Eastern Conference's Atlantic Division (TSN)
• Elliotte Friedman has heard that the Montreal Canadiens were not the only team of pursuit of former Boston Bruins head coach Claude Julien before he was hired last week (Sportsnet)
• Jason Pothier thinks that the looming expansion draft is causing teams to be unusually cautious around the trade deadline (Sin Bin Vegas)/