Rangers vs. Ducks Preview

Tonight the New York Rangers (27-23-6) host the Anaheim Ducks (28-22-7). The Rangers closed out a four-game road trip last week with consecutive wins against Eastern Conference heavyweights Philadelphia, New Jersey and Montreal, outscoring those teams 12-4. Their return home didn't go nearly as well. New York lost to NHL-worst Los Angeles 4-2 on Tuesday, scoring just one goal in the final two periods despite taking 35 of its 41 shots in that span. Jaromir Jagr has been held without a point his last four games, but Chris Drury has picked up the slack during his slump with five goals and two assists in that stretch.The Ducks look to win consecutive games following a six-game losing streak as they continues their nine-game road trip on Thursday against the Rangers. Anaheim had dropped the first four games on its nine-game, 15-day journey that will eventually span four time zones. The Ducks average 2.37 goals -- only the Islanders score fewer per game. Goaltender Jean-Sebastien Giguere is coming off back-to-back regulation shutouts, the first time he's done that since posting three straight from Dec. 8-15, 2002. For a full preview go to Yahoo! Sports.

...with the goal scoring struggles of both of these teams, we're probably looking at a 2-1 game, so the Rangers better have their defensive game on point tonight.

...to make matters worse, Anaheim's goalie Giguere is coming off back-to-back shutouts. Since the Rangers make AHL level goalies look like the second coming of Patrick Roy, maybe tonight they'll make a very good goalie look like the second coming of Tommy Salo.

...Drury is looking for his fifth straight game with a goal.

...I'll be at the game tonight, so hopefully, depending on how many cokes (wink, wink) I have at the game, I'll have a recap when I get home.