After last night’s abomination in Arizona, and this afternoon’s slate of snooze-inducing NFL Wild Card games, (that Bills-Jaguars game might’ve been the most unwatchable football game ever) I think it’s fair to say that all of us could use a palette cleansing game of hockey right about now. Fortunately, the Rangers are in Vegas to take on one of the league’s most exciting teams. Coming into tonight’s game with the league’s second best offense (3.525 goals/game) and best home record with a sparkling 17-2-1 mark, Vegas looks primed to skate circles around a Rangers squad that couldn’t handle the Arizona Coyotes 24 hours ago, and could very well be suffering from a case of the Vegas Flu. It might not be another two points, but it should be a good game of hockey.
Player to Watch: After a 35 save effort from Henrik Lundqvist last night, look for Ondrej Pavelec to follow up Lundqvist’s strong performance with one of his own. The Rangers will need Pavelec to be on his A game if they want to earn another two points before heading into their bye week, so look for the Czech netminder to do everything in his power to keep the game competitive.
Enjoy the game! Or or at least have it on in the background as you nod off for the night since the game won’t end until Monday morning anyway.