Game 6 at Madison Square Garden, against the Montreal Canadiens, with a chance to end the series in front of the Blueshirt faithful. Strange, this all seems very familiar.......anyway, here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Brett Cyrgalis relays word from Brady Skjei’s teammates about how the rookie defenseman has shined this post-season after a rough series against Pittsburgh last spring (NY Post)
• Mark Herrmann discusses how Mika Zibanejad’s honesty with himself about his struggles helped him persevere through them (Newsday)
• Justin Tasch breaks the shocking and completely unexpected news that Pavel Buchnevich has been a valuable contributor to Alain Vigneault’s newly formed and surprisingly effective “KZB Line” (NY Daily News)
• Sean Hartnett believes that New York’s rediscovery of their identity has helped them turn the series around (CBS)
• Game Preview: The Rangers finally get a chance to shake off the stink of their last home game facing elimination (CBS)
• Brian Anderson breaks down how Rick Nash has been able to silence his critics with a strong playoff performance for the third consecutive season (The Hockey Writers)
• Jess Rubenstein delivers a prospect update, with bits on Ryan Gropp and Sergei Zborovskiy (Blueshirt Bulletin)
• Alexandra Russo argues that Derek Stepan has to step up his game to the level of his $6.5 Million price tag (Blue Line Station)
• Garrett Gartino points out that New York is on the verge of moving on to the second round despite a lack of scoring from some of their top players (Blue Line Station)
• Media Availability: Alain Vigneault,(5:09) Mika Zibanejad,(6:51) Marc Staal,(6:06) and Brendan Smith (3:31) (Official Team Site)/

Around the NHL:

• Braydon Holmyard reports that Chicago Blackhawks forward Patrick Kane and Calary Flames forward Johnny Gaudreau will be joining Team USA for the IIHF World Championships after getting swept out of the first round of the playoffs (Sportsnet)
• Gary Lawless writes that the Buffalo Sabres should have opted to bring in another experienced hockey man to help general manager Tim Murray run the team, rather than fire Murray (TSN)
• Mike Halford saw that Ottawa Senators “defenseman” Erik Karlsson, San Jose Sharks “defenseman”Brent Burns, and Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Victor Hedman have been named as the finalists for the Norris Trophy (NBC Sports)
• Greg Wyshynski names ten reasons that the Chicago Blackhawks flopped against the Nashville Predators (Puck Daddy)/