Rangers Vs. Lightning Preview: Rangers Look Carry Over Success Against Lightning

The New York Rangers will be back at it tonight where they will faceoff against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers are heading into this one after a much needed 4-1 win over the New York Islanders on Thursday evening. The Lightning however, are coming into this game sporting a three game losing streak, which started against the Rangers on Saturday. Here's a look at what to expect tonight.

VS.

Tampa Bay Lightning (6-4-0) vs New York Rangers (5-5-0)
Madison Square Garden - New York, NY - 7:30 PM
Television: MSG (local) | Radio: ESPN NY 98.7
Opponent's Blog: Raw Charge | Tickets: New York Rangers Tickets (low as $85)

The Rangers did a ton of things right on Thursday, and even came with their fourth power play goal of the season, which is pretty surprising. J.T. Miller was an absolute beast last game where he came away with his first two career goals in the NHL. Miller has been very impressive thus far, and he's so calm while doing it. For a 19-year old kid with just two games under his belt, he's pretty good at shrugging this amount of pressure.

Some Quick Thoughts:

*** The biggest news of the day around Ranger land is that Dan Girardi will be suiting up tonight for the first time since the game against the Lightning. Girardi sat out the last two games with what was said to be a foot/ankle issue after blocking a shot in Saturday's game. It's great to hear that Danny G will be back tonight, as they could use him on the back end. He'll be paired up with Ryan McDonagh on the first pair.

*** Brian Boyle will remain a healthy scratch tonight, as it doesn't appear John Tortorella will be making any changes to the lineup from Thursday. That also means that Stu Bickel will likely remain out of the lineup as well, in favor of Steve Eminger.

*** Henrik Lundqvist will get the nod once again here tonight, after he came away with easily, his best performance of the season against the New York Islanders. He's finally starting to find his game, just like the rest of the lineup. It'll be interesting to see how he rebounds tonight.

Projected Lineup:

Taylor Pyatt - Brad Richards - Marian Gaborik
Carl Hagelin - Derek Stepan - Rick Nash
Chris Kreider - J.T. Miller - Ryan Callahan
Arron Asham - Jeff Halpern - Darroll Powe

Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Marc Staal - Anton Stralman
Michael Del Zotto - Matt Gilroy/Steve Eminger

Henrik Lundqvist

Scratches: Brian Boyle (healthy), Stu Bickel (healthy).