HUNTING PANTHERS IN THE GARDEN 

NY RANGERS vs. FLORIDA PANTHERS
Tuesday, Jan. 25, 7:00 p.m.
Madison Square Garden • New York, NY
Rangers: 29-19-3 (61 pts)
Panthers: 21-21-5 (47 pts)
* All information through NHL games on Jan. 24

TONIGHT’S GAME:

The Rangers will conclude their back-to-back set when they face-off against the Florida Panthers tomorrow, Jan. 25, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), in their fifth game in seven nights leading up to the All-Star break. The Blueshirts currently rank third in the Atlantic Division standings, and sixth in the Eastern Conference, with a record of 29-19-3 (61 pts). The Rangers enter tonight’s contest having defeated the Washington Capitals, 2-1, in the shootout earlier tonight at Verizon Center to improve to 12-6-2 in their last 20 games, and have now registered a point in 24 of their last 36 (22-12-2). New York is 10-5-1 in their last 16 games at home. The Panthers enter the contest with a 21-21-5 (47 pts) record to rank 11th in the Eastern Conference, and have registered a point in six of their last seven games (3-1-3). Following tomorrow’s contest, the Rangers will have a six-day break in action before they face-off against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Tuesday, Feb. 1, at Madison Square Garden (7:30 p.m.), in their first game following the All-Star break.

BROADCAST INFORMATION:
*      TV: MSG Network
        6:30 p.m. – Rangers Pre-Game Show with Al Trautwig
        7:00 p.m. – Rangers vs. Panthers
        Broadcasters: Sam Rosen (Play-By-Play), Joe Micheletti (Analyst), John Giannone (In-Game Reporter)
*       Radio: 1050 ESPN Radio & www.newyorkrangers.com
        6:30 p.m. – Rangers Pre-Game Show
        7:00 p.m. – Rangers vs. Panthers
        Broadcasters: Kenny Albert (Play-By-Play), Dave Maloney (Analyst)

RANGERS vs. PANTHERS:

*       All-Time: 37-24-6-4 overall (18-12-4-0 at home; 19-12-2-4 on the road)
*       2010-11: Tonight is the third of four meetings this season, and the first at MSG. New York is 1-1-0, following a 3-0 loss at Florida on Jan. 2.
*       Last Season: New York was 3-1-0 overall and 1-1-0 at home. The Rangers out-scored the Panthers, 12-6, in the season series.
*       The Rangers rank 20th with a 12-10-2 (26 pts) record at home; the Panthers are tied for 23rd with a 10-13-0 (20 pts) mark on the road
*       New York is 5-6-2 vs. the Southeast Division; Florida is 5-5-0 against the Atlantic Division
*       Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves in a 3-0 win at Florida on Nov. 26 to post his third shutout of the season, and is 11-5-1 with a 1.77 goals against average and four shutouts in 17 career regular season games vs. the Panthers; Martin Biron is 7-12-1-0 with a 2.68 goals against average in 21 career regular season contests vs. Florida
*       Marian Gaborik has tallied five goals and five assists for 10 points in 13 career regular season contests vs. the Panthers
*       New York lists two former Panthers on their roster: Vinny Prospal (2000-01); Steve Eminger (2008-09)
*       Florida lists two former Rangers on their roster: Radek Dvorak (1999-00 –2002-03); Christopher Higgins (2009-10)

SPECIAL TEAMS:

The Blueshirts have posted a plus-five rating on special teams (PPG+SHG minus PPGA+SHGA) this season, which is tied for eighth in the league.                                                 
*       Power Play: The Rangers did not tally a goal in two power play opportunities (4:00) last night at Washington. New York ranks 23rd overall (28-177, 15.8%) and 22nd at home (15-88, 17.0%). The Rangers are 1-6 (6:25) in five-on-three situations (last – 1/22 at ATL), and 0-2 (2:23) when four-on-three (last – 12/3 vs. NYI). Shorthanded goals allowed (4): 11/20 at MIN (Cullen); 12/5 vs. OTT (Kelly); 1/2 at FLA (Weiss); 1/16 vs. PHI (Richards).
*       Penalty Killing: The Blueshirts held the Capitals scoreless in two shorthanded situations (4:00) last night at Washington, and are now 105-120 (87.5%) over the last 39 games. New York ranks seventh overall (145-173, 83.8%) and eighth at home (62-72, 86.1%). The Rangers are 6-8 (6:05) in three-on-five situations (last – 1/13 vs. VAN), and 4-6 (2:41) when three-on-four (last – 11/15 at PIT). Shorthanded goals for (9): 10/9 at BUF (Dubinsky); 11/5 at NJD (Dubinsky); 11/15 at PIT (Staal); 11/24 at TBL (Boyle); 11/26 at FLA (Prust); 12/5 vs. OTT (Prust); 12/12 vs. WSH (Staal); 12/16 vs. PHX (Prust); 1/7 at DAL (Fedotenko).
*       Four-on-Four: New York did not tally/yield a goal in two four-on-four situations (7:00) last night at Washington, and are now plus-three in 40, four-on-four situations (80:26). Four-on-four goals for (5): 10/18 vs. COL (Frolov); 11/11 vs. BUF (Anisimov); 11/15 at PIT (Callahan); 12/12 vs. WSH (Callahan); 1/5 vs. CAR (Zuccarello). Four-on-four goals allowed (2): 10/15 vs. TOR (Kessel); 1/1 at TBL (Thompson).

FOUR SCORE AND MORE:

The Rangers defeated the Toronto Maple Leafs, 7-0, on Wednesday at Madison Square Garden…
*       Marian Gaborik (four goals, one assist) posted his third hat trick of the season, the most by a Ranger in a single season since Jaromir Jagr recorded three in 2005-06
*       The last Ranger to tally four goals in a game was Radek Dvorak on Mar. 29, 2001 at Long Island, and the last Blueshirt to register five points in a single game was Mike York on Jan. 23, 2002 vs. Boston (two goals, three assists)
*       The Rangers have now registered four hat tricks this season (Derek Stepan, Marian Gaborik – 3), which is the most for the team since 2005-06 (Jaromir Jagr – 3, Martin Straka)
*       Henrik Lundqvist (22 saves) posted his seventh shutout of the season to pass Jon Ross Roach for third on the Rangers’ all-time career regular season shutouts list (31), and moved ahead of Mike Richter for fourth on the Rangers’ all-time career shutouts list (regular season + playoffs) with 34
*       Lundqvist also registered his 20th win of the season to become the third goalie in NHL history to record 20 or more wins in their first six seasons (Bill Durnan, 7 seasons, 1943-1949; George Hainsworth, 6 seasons, 1926-1931), and now owns the second longest active streak of 20-plus win seasons (six), behind Roberto Luongo (eight)
*       Artem Anisimov tallied a career-high, four assists, the most by a Ranger since Marian Gaborik recorded four assists on Jan. 19, 2010 in an 8-2 win vs. Tampa Bay

BACK-TO-BACKS:

The Rangers will conclude their league-high, 14th of 18 back-to-back sets tonight vs. Florida. New York is 8-5-1 (2-1-0 at home, 6-4-1 on the road) in the first game of back-to-backs. The Blueshirts are 10-3-0 (4-1-0 at home, 6-2-0 on the road) in the second game this season, having out-scored their opponent, 36-20, in those games. Over the last two seasons, New York is 19-5-2 in the back-end of back-to-back sets, including an 8-2-1 mark at MSG and 11-3-1 on the road over the span.

COMEBACK KIDS:

New York is now 7-12-3 when trailing after the second period, following last night’s 2-1 shootout win at Washington.  The Rangers lead the league with seven wins and a .318 winning percentage in those games.

COMPARED TO LAST SEASON…

The Rangers have registered five more wins and six more points compared to last season through 51 games (24-20-7, 55 points in 2009-10), having tallied 10 more goals (145 this season, 135 last season) while allowing 13 fewer goals against (122 this season, 135 last season).  New York has also shown a four-goal improvement while shorthanded compared to 2009-10 (nine this season, five last season).

YOUTH IS SERVED:

The Rangers have the sixth youngest team in the league with an average age of 26 years and 210 days, and the youngest defensive corp in the league with an average age of 24 years and 328 days. *based on NHL rosters on Jan. 11

WINNING HABIT:

New York is currently 10 games over .500 with a 29-19-3 record. New York was never more than six games over .500 last season, having last been at least 10 games over on Apr. 12, 2009 (43-30-9).

TEAM EFFORT:

The Rangers have had 17 different players credited with at least one game winning goal this season, which is the most in the NHL.

AMONG THE LEAGUE LEADERS:

The Rangers lead the league in shorthanded goals (nine) and hits (1,456), are tied for first in road wins (17), fourth in wins (29), eighth in points (61), sixth in goals against (122), and rank second in blocked shots (805), 11th in goals for (145), and fifth with a plus-23 goal differential.

THE HOT LIST:

*       Henrik Lundqvist is 14-7-2 with a 1.80 goals against average, a .937 save percentage and five shutouts in his last 23 games, and has held opponents to two or fewer goals in nine of his last 11 contests
*       Derek Stepan has tallied 24 points (10 goals, 14 assists) in the last 35 games, with five points (one goal, four assists) in the last six
*       Mats Zuccarello has recorded seven points (three goals, four assists) in the last 11 games, with four points (two goals, two assists) in the last six
*       Wojtek Wolski has recorded six points (three goals, three assists) in eight games as a Ranger, with five points (two goals, three assists) in the last five
*       Brian Boyle has tallied four points (three goals, one assist) in the last six games

MILESTONES APPROACHING:

*       Henrik Lundqvist: 2 wins from 200 NHL career

MILESTONES RECENTLY ACHIEVED:

*       Brodie Dupont: 1st career NHL game (1/22 at ATL)

INJURIES:

*       Vinny Prospal (IR on Sept. 24/knee surgery on Oct. 18) – 51
*       Derek Boogaard (injured shoulder on Dec. 9) – 21
*       Ryan Callahan (broken hand on Dec. 15) – 18
*       Erik Christensen (sprained knee on Dec. 29) – 13
*       Alex Frolov (injured knee on Jan. 8, expected to be sidelined for the remainder of the season) – 8
*       Brandon Dubinsky (stress fracture in left leg, 3 – 4 weeks) – 4
*       Ruslan Fedotenko (shoulder separation on Jan. 19, 2 – 4 weeks) – 3
*       Dan Girardi (injured on Jan. 22) – 1
Total Man-Games Lost: 185

RECENT TRANSACTIONS:

*       Jan. 19 – Recalled forwards Chad Kolarik and Brodie Dupont from Connecticut (AHL)
*       Jan. 22 – Recalled defenseman Michael Del Zotto and forward Evgeny Grachev from Connecticut (AHL), and assigned forward Dale Weise to Connecticut