Tonight the New York Rangers (20-17-4) visit the Edmonton Oilers (17-21-4) in the final game of their three game Western Canada road trip. The Rangers opened this three-game trip with a 4-3 loss to Calgary on Wednesday before falling 3-0 to Vancouver the following night, dropping to 0-5-1 against Western Conference teams this season. The two defeats have come after New York finished December on a three-game winning streak to bounce back from a 2-6-2 stretch. The Rangers have won two of the last three matchups with Edmonton -- all at home -- and haven't visited Rexall Place since a 4-1 loss on Jan. 2, 2002. New York is 1-2-0 with two ties in its last five trips to Edmonton. The Oilers have dropped five of their last six at home (1-4-1), including three in a row while only managing one goal in each game. For a full preview go to Yahoo! Sports.
...this is a game the Rangers have to win. Edmonton is a struggling team and the Rangers need to take it to them early. The Rangers can not go 0-3 on this trip.
...I'm foreseeing a big game from Lundqvist tonight. He needs one right now.
...the Rangers need some production from their third line tonight. I'm calling two goals from that line, which should consist of Prucha-Dubinsky- Callahan.
...Edmonton has had their own trouble scoring goals this season as their leading scorer only has 16 goals. Although they're not going to get any sympathy from me as the Rangers leading goal scorer Shanahan only has 15. That's just awful.
...Mathieu Garon seems to be starting over Dwayne Roloson these days in Edmonton. Not sure who will be in there tonight, but either way it should be easier to score some goals tonight than it was against Luongo.
...maybe Sather will give the team a pep talk before the game encouraging them not to lose to his old franchise.
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