Flames at Rangers
The New York Rangers are riding a 9-1-2 run to position themselves two points out of first place in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers look to continue their winning ways and complete a two-game season series sweep of the Calgary Flames when the clubs meet at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday. Martin St. Louis continued to put distance between his 15-game goalless drought by tallying twice in a 4-3 shootout victory over Columbus on Sunday as the Rangers inched closer to the division-leading New York Islanders.
St. Louis, who has scored four goals and set up two others in his last four games, notched an assist in a 5-2 victory over Calgary on Dec. 16 for his 14th point (eight goals, six assists) in 12 career contests against the Flames. As for Calgary, it finds itself trailing Minnesota by one point for the second wild-card spot in the Western Conference as it begins a season-high seven-game road trip. The Flames finished 2-1-1 on their recent homestand, dropping a 3-2 overtime decision to the Wild on Wednesday before falling 6-3 to Anaheim two nights later.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, RSN West (Calgary), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE FLAMES (32-23-4): Captain Mark Giordano isn't interested in tackling the team's lengthy road trip as a whole, rather focusing primarily on its beginning. "The best way to look at it, the first two, being back-to-back, we've gotta find a way to get points, and go from there," Giordano told the Calgary Herald. The Flames are no strangers to sizable treks, posting a 4-2-0 record on a six-game trip from Oct. 9-19 and a 3-2-0 mark on a five-game excursion from Nov. 2-10.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (36-16-6): Rick Nash scored twice in the teams' first meeting and has recorded nine goals and six assists in his last 12 games. Nash, who took a maintenance day on Monday, has 37 goals - second only to Washington captain Alex Ovechkin (38) for the league lead. Derek Stepan collected two assists versus the Blue Jackets and scored and set up a goal in the first outing versus Calgary.
OVERTIME
1. The Rangers are 0-for-13 on the power play in their last five games, while Calgary has killed off all 20 short-handed situations over its last 11.
2. The Rangers own an impressive 8-1-1 record versus Pacific Division foes, while the Flames have dropped seven of 10 contests against Metropolitan clubs.
3. With C Matt Stajan expecting the birth of his first child and C Paul Byron (undisclosed) placed on injured reserve, the Flames recalled LW Michael Ferland and RW Emile Poirier from Adirondack of the American Hockey League on Monday.