Tonight at 7:30 p.m. ET, the Nashville Predators (13-14-1, 27 points) and New York Rangers (15-15-1. 31 points) faceoff live from Madison Square Garden in New York City in the second and final meeting this season. The game can be live streamed here. Nashville fans can hear all of the action on WPRT 102.5 The Game while New York fans can do the same on WBBR 1130 Bloomberg Radio.
Nashville has lost its past five games but enters play having won four of its last five road games while New York is 1-5-1 in its last seven games at Madison Square Garden and has dropped the first two games of its current franchise-record nine-game homestand. The first time these two teams met the Rangers shutout the Predators 2-0 in Nashville on Nov. 23.
The Rangers latest home loss occurred Sunday against the Washington Capitals in a 4-1 defeat that led to the team having a closed-door meeting after the game to try and right the ship.
"What is said in here, stays in here," Rangers captain Ryan Callahan told BlueshirtsUnited. "Everybody in here knows we need to be better and have to be better."
The Predators haven't scored first since Nov. 27 and suffered their latest set-back in a 5-2 loss to the Washington Capitals on Saturday.
"It's making it very difficult," Predators coach Barry Trotz said of the losing streak, according to NHL.com. "You can't just look at the big picture, better to just look at the next game. Win the next game and you've got to work at it a game at a time. ... We just don't have the finish we need right now."
Nashville has been led up front by David Legwand, who has five goals and 15 assists for 20 points while Craig Smith and Patric Hornqvist each have six tallies and nine helpers for 15 points this season.
Brad Richards had his six-game point streak snapped Sunday, but he paces the Rangers with 23 points off of nine goals and 14 assists while Mats Zuccarello has found the back of the net six times and added 14 helpers for 20 points and Derek Stepan also has 20 points after lighting the lamp five times and adding 15 assists.
Henrik Lundqvist is the Rangers projected starter and is 9-12-1 with a 2.58 goals-against average and a .914 save percentage while with Pekka Rinne (hip) sidelined, it looks like Marek Mazanec, who is 5-7-1 with a 2.51 GAA and a .915 save percentage, will man the crease for Nashville.
The Predators and Rangers both look for some consistency when the puck drops tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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