Nashville Predators at the New York Rangers: Pre Game Primer

TV-Radio...

6:30 p.m. CST   TV: NBC Sports Network (no local TV).  Preds Radio Network (102.5-FM The Game)

Stage Setter...

The Nashville Predators are playing as well as any team in the NHL, winning eight of their last nine games, and head into the biggest stage (Madison Square Gardens) in the nation's biggest city to play the original six, New York Rangers on national television. Both teams have excellent goaltending, good defense, score by committee and are well coached. You can't ask for a better match-up.

Make the jump for everything else...

Western Conference Standings...

        Team        GP Pts
1. * St Louis 45 60
2. * Vancouver 46 59
3. * San Jose  42 55
4. Chicago          46 60
5. Detroit            45 59
6. Nashville 45 56
7. Los Angeles    46 53
8. Minnesota       45 51
9. Colorado        47 50
10. Dallas            44 49
11. Phoenix         46 49
12. Calgary         46 47

Prior Meetings...

This is the only meeting of the season between the Preds and Rangers. Last season the Predators lost to the blue shirts 2-1 as Henrick Lundqvist beat Pekka Rinne in a classic goalie match where the Preds actually outplayed the Rangers. The Predators are 7-7 (1)-1 all-time against the Rangers and are 5-2-(1)-0 at MSG and have gotten points in their last six trips to play the Rangers dating back to Dec 23, 2000 when David Legwand made history with the first overtime penalty shot in NHL history.

Last Time Out...

Nashville avoided a trap yesterday on Long Island and scored three quick goals in the first period and held on for a 3-1 win against the Islanders.

The Rangers lost  4-1 at Montreal on Sunday with Henrik Lundqvist in net.

Top Scorers (G-A-Pts)...

Nashville - S. Weber (9-23-32), M. Erat (10-20-30), D. Legwand (13-15-28), C.Smith (9-17-26),  R. Suter (5-20-25) C. Wilson (8-16-24) S. Kostitsyn (11-12-23) and M. Fisher (8-15-23)

Rangers - M. Gaborick (23-12-35), B. Richards (15-16-31), R. Callahan (14-17-31), D, Stepan (10-20-30), M. Del Zotto (5-18-23), A. Anismov (7-15-22), and B. Dubinsky (5-16-21).

In Goal (W-L-O, GAA, save %)...

Nashville - P. Rinne  (24-11-4, 2.50, .922) and A. Lindback (2-4-0, 2.75, .893)

Rangers - H. Lundqvist (19-9-4, 1.95, .935) and M Biron (9-2-0, 1.88, .927)

Other Comparisons...

Teams	Predators	Rangers
Record	26-15-4 (54)	28-11-4(60)
Last 10	8-2-0	7-3-0
Home Record	14-7-3	13-4-2
Road Record	12-8-1	15-7-2
Power Play (rank)	21.4 (3)	14.5 (23)
Penalty Kill (rank)	82.5 (16)	86.5 (5)
Goals For (rank)	2.71 (12)	2.79 (11)
Goals Allowed (rank)	2.64 (12)	2.02 (3)
Shots For (rank)	27.6 (27)	28.0 (24)
Shots Allowed (rank)	31.3 (24)	29.3 (10)
Penalty Mins (rank)	10.1 (7)	9.7 (4)
Faceoff % (rank)	49.6 (19)	50.1 (13)

Injuries...

Nashville - Jerred Smithson (lower body), Craig Smith (illness), Ryan Suter (upper body).

Rangers - Michael Sauer (concussion), Steve Eminger (shoulder), Jeff Woywitka (foot), Brandon Dubinsky (shoulder) and Ruslan Fedotenko (back spasms)

Notes...

• Nashville is 6-2-2 against the Eastern Conference this season.
• The Predators are 17-2-3 when scoring first, sixth in the NHL
• The Predators are 21-2-2 when scoring more than two goals.
• The Predators are 13-0-1 when Nick Spaling scores. He set a career high for points in a season (7g-8a-15pts) on Saturday with his game winner.
• Colin Wilson and Nick Spaling lead the team in GWG with three each.
• Tonight's game is back end of the 6th of 11 back to back games this season. They are 4-2-0 record on the front end and 2-3-0 on the back end.
• The Preds have comeback from a 2 or 3 goal deficits 6 times this season
• The Preds have a .294 win % when trailing after two periods (5-12-0), Second only to Ottawa in the NHL
• The Preds are 0-24 during the Goo-Goo minute and will have their nest chance on Saturday against the Blackhawks.

Other Predator Previews...

NHL.com
Predators.com
The Tennessean
Ryan Porth  Preview - Pekka Rinne Audio Preview
Amanda DiPaolo
Dirk Hoag
Paul McCann
Fang Finger
Predatorial

Podcast Preview

Today's RLD Hockey Talk featured Kenny Albert, the voice of the Rangers and offers great insight into tonight's contest.

Big Apple  Media...

Rangers.com
New York Post
News Day
North Jersey
BlueShirt Banter
SYNRangers Blog
Ranger's Report
Ranger Rants
Ranger's Review
Ranger's Tribute
BlueShirts Blog

Game Notes from NHL Media Services

A Look Ahead for the Preds...

Tonight                    @ NY Rangers 6:30 p.m.
Thursday                 @Columbus 6 p.m.
Saturday                  Chicago Blackhawks 7 p.m.
Monday (1-23)        Columbus Blue Jackets 7 p.m.
Tuesday (1-24)        @ Chicago Blackhawks
1-25 to 1-30            All-Star Break

More Later...

Buddy Oakes for PredsOnTheGlass