Rangers at Golden Knights
The Western Conference-leading Vegas Golden Knights hope to continue their home dominance when they host the New York Rangers on Sunday. Vegas, which is coming off a 5-4 triumph at Chicago on Friday, owns the NHL's best home record (17-2-1) and is riding a nine-game point streak (8-0-1) - including six straight wins - at T-Mobile Arena.
The expansion Golden Knights, who haven't fallen in 60 minutes at home since Nov. 28 against Dallas, suffered their first overall regulation loss since Dec. 1 on Thursday at St. Louis (2-1) but bounced back versus the Blackhawks as Reilly Smith capped a third-period comeback - and a three-point performance - with 6:07 remaining. William Karlsson also tallied in the win, giving him a team-leading 21 goals in 40 games after recording 18 in 183 contests over his first three NHL seasons. New York has played well on the road of late, going 3-0-2 in its last five after recording a 2-1 shootout win at Arizona on Saturday despite being without leading scorer Mats Zuccarello (31 points) due to illness. The Rangers are 6-2-2 in their last 10 overall thanks in part to Mika Zibanejad, who scored the lone goal in the bonus format.
TV: 9:30 p.m. ET, Sportsnet 360, MSG Plus (New York), AT&T SportsNet-Rocky Mountain (Vegas)
ABOUT THE RANGERS (22-14-5): Henrik Lundqvist made 38 saves before stopping all three attempts he faced in the shootout to record his 424th career victory. The 35-year-old Swede passed Tony Esposito for eighth place on the all-time list, needing 111 fewer games to register 423 wins. Each of New York's last five road contests have gone beyond regulation, with the team going 2-0 in overtime decisions and 1-2 in shootouts.
ABOUT THE GOLDEN KNIGHTS (28-10-2): Luca Sbisa, who hadn't played since Dec. 12 due to a lower-body injury, returned to the lineup Friday but exited after two periods and could miss the game against New York. Forward Ryan Carpenter made his debut for Vegas after being claimed off waivers from San Jose on Dec. 13, registering two shots and a minus-1 rating in 12 minutes, 33 seconds of ice time. The 26-year-old center notched one assist in 16 games with the Sharks this season, giving him five points (two goals) in 28 career contests prior to Friday.
OVERTIME
1. Golden Knights F Jonathan Marchessault, who leads the team with 39 points, has landed on the scoresheet in eight of his last nine games - collecting six goals and seven assists in that span.
2. Zuccarello leads New York with 23 assists and is one away from 200 for his career.
3. Vegas D Deryk Engelland's next point will be his 100th in the NHL while Sbisa is two shy of the century mark.