Rangers at Jets preview

RANGERS (26-24-5) at JETS (32-14-9)
3 p.m. ET; NHLN, TSN3, MSG+, NHL.TV

The Jets, 6-1-2 in their past nine games, will try to bounce back from a 5-2 loss against the St. Louis Blues on Friday. It was Winnipeg's first regulation defeat in its past 11 home games.
Goaltender Connor Hellebuyck is expected to start; he's 5-1-2 with a 2.20 goals-against average, .924 save percentage and two shutouts in his past eight starts.
Forward Jimmy Vesey will be back in the Rangers lineup after missing three games with a concussion.
New York defenseman Ryan McDonagh did not make the trip to Winnipeg; the Rangers captain has been dealing with an upper-body injury for the past two weeks, coach Alain Vigneault said Saturday.
The Rangers, 1-4-0 in their past five games and 4-10-0 in their past 14, also will be without backup goaltender Ondrej Pavelec, who is out 2-3 weeks with a sprained MCL sustained in the first period of a 4-3 win against the Calgary Flames on Friday. New York recalled goaltender Alexandar Georgiev from Hartford of the American Hockey League.

Players to watch

Rangers forward J.T. Miller has eight points (two goals, six assists) in his past six games.
Jets forward Kyle Connor has six points (three goals, three assists) in his past five games.

They said it

"I've felt good for a couple days now. Came in [Friday] and passed the baseline testing and everything like that. I'm good to go and I'm excited to play tomorrow." -- Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey
"We've got to look at the way that we played [on Friday] and figure out what we didn't do good. We didn't work hard enough."-- Jets forward Nikolaj Ehlers

Rangers projected lineup

Rick Nash -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner -- Kevin Hayes -- J.T. Miller
Jimmy Vesey -- David Desharnais -- Jesper Fast
Cody McLeod -- Peter Holland -- Vinni Lettieri
Brady Skjei -- Neal Pionk
Nick Holden -- Steven Kampfer
John Gilmour -- Tony DeAngelo
Henrik Lundqvist
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched:Paul Carey
Injured:Chris Kreider (blood clot, right arm), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery), Pavel Buchnevich (concussion symptoms), Marc Staal (cervical strain), Jimmy Vesey (concussion), Ondrej Pavelec (sprained MCL), Ryan McDonagh (upper body)

Jets projected lineup

Mathieu Perreault -- Mark Scheifele -- Blake Wheeler
Patrik Laine -- Bryan Little -- Nikolaj Ehlers
Kyle Connor -- Andrew Copp -- Joel Armia
Marko Dano -- Nic Petan -- Jack Roslovic
Josh Morrissey -- Tyler Myers
Toby Enstrom -- Dustin Byfuglien
Ben Chiarot -- Dmitry Kulikov
Connor Hellebuyck
Eric Comrie
Scratched:Tucker Poolman, Brendan Lemieux
Injured: Shawn Matthias (upper body), Steve Mason (concussion), Jacob Trouba (lower body), Adam Lowry (upper body), Matt Hendricks (upper body), Brandon Tanev (upper body), Michael Hutchinson (concussion)

Status report

Hendricks skated in a non-contact jersey on Saturday and won't play Sunday.

Stat pack

Lundqvist is 1-6-0 with a 4.21 GAA and .879 save percentage and has been pulled three times in his past eight games. … Wheeler hasn't scored a goal in 13 games.