Blue Jackets at Rangers
THE STORY: The Eastern Conference-leading New York Rangers are hoping for a better start than last time out when they host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Sunday. New York allowed four goals in the first 9:38 of Thursday's home game against Chicago and never recovered. It looks to avoid consecutive losses for the first time since Dec. 13-15 when it faces Columbus, which has followed a seven-game road losing streak with two straight victories away from home.
TV: 8 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Columbus), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE BLUE JACKETS (17-35-6): Rick Nash could be facing his future teammates, as the Rangers are one of the clubs rumored to be interested in acquiring the captain before the Feb. 27 trade deadline. Nash has just 18 goals in 58 games and is in danger of his first season of fewer than 30 tallies since he scored 27 in 2006-07. Defenseman James Wisniewski's first season with Columbus will be one he'd like to forget. The defenseman served an eight-game suspension to start the campaign and missed 17 contests with an ankle injury before leaving Saturday's loss to Chicago with a groin problem.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (37-14-5): Henrik Lundqvist has been a major force all season. The All-Star has allowed more than three goals just three times in 42 starts and once in the last 34. Lundqvist has yielded two tallies or fewer in nine of his last 10 outings and posted four of his league-leading seven shutouts in that span. Captain Ryan Callahan is riding a five-game points streak during which he has scored six goals.
OVERTIME:
1. The Rangers have won eight of their last nine Sunday contests.
2. Columbus has had New York's number, winning four of their last six meetings and six of nine.
3. The Blue Jackets have captured just 20 of their last 80 games.