Rangers at Avalanche
The New York Rangers have won a franchise-best 25 games on the road to make themselves at home away from Madison Square Garden. The Rangers look to add to that total when they visit the surging Colorado Avalanche on Thursday. New York posted a 3-1 triumph over Vancouver on Tuesday for its seventh win in eight games, although the victory came at a price as top defenseman Ryan McDonagh exited the contest with his left arm in a sling.
Colorado knows a thing or two about injuries, with Matt Duchene expected to miss four weeks with an ailing knee. The Avalanche did their best without the Canadian Olympian and rallied to their fourth straight win by posting a 3-2 overtime victory over Columbus on Tuesday. Both teams reside in second place in their respective divisions and hold three-point leads over their next closest foes - Philadelphia and Chicago, respectively.
TV: 9 p.m. ET, MSG (New York), Altitude (Colorado)
ABOUT THE RANGERS (43-30-4): Martin St. Louis netted his first goal in 15 games with his new team since being acquired from Tampa Bay at the trade deadline. "There is a lot of things playing against you a little bit with a new team and new environment, but you try to stay the course, play the right way and find that fine line of anticipating and not cheating," St. Louis said. "I feel like I am getting more comfortable finding that line." The tally allowed St. Louis to reach the 30-goal plateau for the seventh time in his career - and first since 2010-11.
ABOUT THE AVALANCHE (48-21-6): Gabriel Landeskog scored his second goal of the contest 4:27 into overtime on Tuesday to lift his team to victory and himself into a tie with Ryan O'Reilly with a club-best 26 tallies. The captain has collected five goals and two assists during his four-game point streak and recorded his team's lone tally in a 5-1 setback in New York on Feb. 4. Rookie Nathan MacKinnon, who assisted on Landeskog's goal in that contest, was elevated to the top line in Duchene's absence and notched a pair of assists against the Blue Jackets.
OVERTIME
1. New York G Henrik Lundqvist improved to 2-3-1 against Colorado with a 27-save performance on Feb. 4.
2. Avalanche G Semyon Varlamov boasts a league-leading 38 wins but has appeared in a career-high 59 games this season.
3. The Rangers have recorded a power-play goal in each of their last two games after going seven of the previous eight contests without one.