Devils at Rangers
The New York Rangers look to extend their winning streak, as well as avenge their only loss of the month, Monday when they take on the visiting New Jersey Devils for the second time in seven days. The Rangers dropped a 3-2 decision at New Jersey on Tuesday but bounced back with victories over Minnesota and Philadelphia, the latter coming in a shootout.
New York could be without captain Ryan McDonagh, who exited Saturday's win over the Flyers with an upper-body injury after being punched in the head by Wayne Simmonds. New Jersey has lost back-to-back shootouts since its home win over the Rangers but is still in a virtual tie with Pittsburgh for the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. The Devils have a new scoring leader in Lee Stempniak, who notched an assist against Washington on Saturday to move one point ahead of the injured Mike Cammalleri (38). Stempniak spent part of last season with New York and has haunted his former team thus far this campaign, scoring in overtime on Oct. 18 to give the Devils a 2-1 triumph before tallying and setting up defenseman David Schlemko's power-play winner on Tuesday.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, NHL Network, MSG Plus (New Jersey), MSG (New York)
ABOUT THE DEVILS (26-20-7): Stempniak has collected six goals and four assists over his last 10 games to put him 13 points away from matching his career high of 52 set in 2006-07 with St. Louis. Kyle Palmieri leads the club with a career-high 20 goals but enters Monday in a five-game drought. New Jersey has been strong on the penalty kill of late, going a perfect 11-for-11 over its last three games.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (29-18-5): J.T. Miller failed to land on the scoresheet Saturday, ending his goal-scoring and point streaks at three games. The 22-year-old center recorded four tallies and an assist during that span and has netted seven of his career-high 16 tallies over his last seven contests. Derick Brassard is tied with Mats Zuccarello for the team lead in goals, one shy of his career high of 19 set last season.
OVERTIME
1. Rangers LW Rick Nash has missed the last five games due to a bone bruise in his left leg.
2. New Jersey is 2-6 in shootouts this campaign, losing five straight since topping the Islanders on Oct. 31.
3. Miller was the offensive star for the Rangers in Tuesday's matchup, netting both tallies for his second two-goal performance of the season - both of which came in a four-game span.