Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Chicago Blackhawks (35-11-14, 84 points) and New York Rangers (32-24-3, 67 points) hit the ice at Madison Square Garden in New York for the second and final meeting between these two teams this season. The game can be live streamed here. Chicago fans can hear all of the action on 720 WGN while New York fans can do the same on 98.7 ESPN.
Chicago and New York combined to send 16 players to the Sochi Olympics and will look to come out of the break with a strong performance. The first time these two teams met, the Rangers defeated the Blackhawks 3-2 on Jan. 28 in Chicago.
Peter Regin is expected to play on the second line in just his second game with the defending Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks after being acquired from the New York Islanders on Feb. 6.
"I'm not 100 percent sure exactly what kind of player [he is] or the role [he'll play]," coach Joel Quenneville said after practice Tuesday. "I think he can score and he can make plays. I think reliability is part of his game. [We'll] give him a chance offensively to see what's there."
The Rangers come into play with rumors swirling around possible trade of unrestricted free agents captain Ryan Callahan and defenseman Dan Girardi.
"Having the situation in front of us has been a little bit challenging in the sense that those are the key guys, those are the guys that I've got to work with on a daily basis to make sure that when I'm not around, the right message and the right behavior is there," coach Alain Vigneault told The New York Daily News.
The Rangers will be without top scorer Mats Zuccarello (15-28-43) due to a hand injury he suffered in the Sochi Games. With Zuccarello sidelined, Brad Richards (15-27-42) and Derek Stepan (10-25-35) lead the team in scoring.
The Blackhawks have been led by Patrick Kane (27-36-63), Patrick Sharp (28-30-58) and Jonathan Toews (19-36-55).
Corey Crawford will likely play between the pipes for Chicago, and he is 22-9-10 with a 2.35 goals-against average and a .916 save percentage while the Rangers will start Cam Talbot, who is 10-5-0 with a 1.79 GAA and a .935 save percentage.
Two original six teams faceoff when the lights come up at Madison Square Garden on the Blackhawks and Rangers tonight at Madison Square Garden.
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