Rangers at Coyotes
The New York Rangers will hit the midway point of the season in Saturday's road game against the league-worst Arizona Coyotes, one that could be considered a must-win given what awaits the team the rest of the way. New York has played both the most home games and fewest road contests, and will be away from Madison Square Garden for 26 of its final 42 matches.
"For whatever reason, the schedule had us playing more home games in the first half, but I’m very confident in this group’s ability to play the right way on the road, they’ve been good since I’ve been here,” New York coach Alain Vigneault told reporters. The Rangers must avoid not looking past Arizona as they have a contest looming on Sunday at expansion Vegas, which owns the league's best home record. Arizona is tied with Buffalo with a league-low five home wins but is coming off an impressive 3-2 overtime victory over Nashville. "It's been a rough first half here for the majority of the guys in here," Coyotes forward Nick Cousins told reporters. "We're happy that it's a fresh start here in 2018."
TV: 8 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), FS Arizona
ABOUT THE RANGERS (21-14-5): New York received a jolt on Friday with the news that Chris Kreider, who has been sidelined since Dec. 27 with a blood clot in his arm, will have to undergo surgery to have a rib resected. No timetable was given for the return of Kreider, who has recorded 11 goals and 11 assists in 37 games after establishing career highs of 28 tallies and 53 points last season. Vigneault had Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich and J.T. Miller skate on a line during Friday's practice.
ABOUT THE COYOTES (10-27-5): Anthony Duclair scored for the second time in 16 games against the Predators amid reports that he has asked to be traded and that Arizona is trying to accommodate him. The 22-year-old Duclair, whose production dipped from 20 goals as a rookie in 2015-16 to five last season, has been a healthy scratch 10 times this campaign - with coach Rick Tocchet citing a consistent lack of effort. Duclair was acquired from the Rangers in March 2015 in a deal that sent Keith Yandle to New York.
OVERTIME
1. New York has won eight consecutive games in the series.
2. Coyotes RW Christian Fischer has recorded four goals in his last seven contests.
3. Rangers RW Rick Nash has been kept off the scoresheet in eight straight games.