Red Wings at Rangers
Foiled in their first chance to extend the longest active postseason streak of the four major North American team sports, the Detroit Red Wings get another crack when they visit the New York Rangers on Saturday afternoon in the regular-season finale for both teams. Detroit is tied with Boston for third place in the Atlantic Division, but owns the tiebreaker as it seeks its 25th consecutive playoff berth.
The Red Wings had won three in a row and were in position for the clincher, but they were manhandled by the Bruins in a 5-2 road loss on Thursday night. "We put ourselves in a position by winning a game to control our own destiny," Detroit coach Jeff Blashill said in referring to Wednesday's 3-0 win over Philadelphia. "So let's go win a hockey game on Saturday." Likewise, the Rangers are sitting in a tie with the New York Islanders for third place in the Metropolitan Division, but they are already punched their ticket to the postseason. New York may be content to settle for the top wild card in the Eastern Conference and a first-round matchup against Florida rather than face Metropolitan runner-up Pittsburgh, the league's hottest team with a season-high eight consecutive victories.
TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, FSN Detroit, MSG (New York), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE RED WINGS (41-29-11): Goaltender Jimmy Howard had his three-start winning streak snapped when he was pulled in the third period versus Boston, but he has a solid history (4-2-2, 1.73 goals-against average) versus New York and will be in net. General manager Ken Holland said forward Justin Abdelkader is expected to play despite suffering a lower-body injury in Thursday's game, but the team recalled Joakim Andersson as a precautionary measure. Detroit is 0-for-8 on the power play in the past two contests after scoring at least one man-advantage goal in eight straight games.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (45-27-9): Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has been slumping down the stretch and was yanked for the second time in four starts in Thursday's loss to the Islanders, giving way to Antti Raanta, who will get the nod versus Detroit. New York also has mounting injury concerns, with leading scorer Mats Zuccarello, captain Ryan McDonagh, fellow blue-liner Dan Girardi and forward Viktor Stalberg all sitting out Saturday's matchup. Raanta split a pair of overtime decisions versus Detroit this season, including a 1-0 shutout at home on Feb. 21.
OVERTIME
1. Rangers C Derek Stepan owns a five-game point streak and has six goals and nine assists in his last nine contests.
2. The Red Wings have dropped their last five at Madison Square Garden,
3. Coach Alain Vigneault said at Friday's practice that he expected Zuccarello, Girardi and Stalberg to be ready for the playoffs.