Devils at Rangers preview

DEVILS (27-28-12) at RANGERS (36-27-4)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, MSG+, NHL.TV
The Game
Igor Shesterkin will start for the New York Rangers when they try to climb in the Eastern Conference wild-card race, against the New Jersey Devils at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.

Shesterkin, who has won seven consecutive starts, has been out since sustaining a nondisplaced rib fracture in a car accident on Feb. 23.
The Rangers, who are three points behind the New York Islanders and Columbus Blue Jackets for the first wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the East, are 1-3-0 in their past four games but 10-4-0 in their past 14.
The Devils, 5-1-2 in their past eight games and 9-4-2 in their past 15, ended the St. Louis Blues' eight-game winning streak with a 4-2 win at Prudential Center on Friday.

Players to watch

Devils forward Jesper Bratt has nine points (five goals, four assists) in his past nine games.
Rangers center Mika Zibanejad, who scored an NHL single-game season-high five goals in a 6-5 overtime win against the Washington Capitals on Thursday, leads the League with 20 goals in 19 games since Jan. 31.

They said it

"We've had more trust in each other of late and I think we're really starting to own our jobs. We're more competitive against the guy directly across from us and more excited to have the puck because of that." -- Devils defenseman Connor Carrick
"It is the Devils. They are one of our rivals. We're 15 games left and we're two points out of a playoff spot. I don't know how much more this game could mean to our guys. … It's crunch time. It's playoff time." -- Rangers coach David Quinn

Devils projected lineup

Miles Wood -- Nico Hischier -- Kyle Palmieri
Jack Hughes -- Travis Zajac -- Joey Anderson
Jesper Bratt -- Pavel Zacha -- Nikita Gusev
Kevin Rooney -- Michael McLeod -- John Hayden
Mirco Mueller -- P.K. Subban
Dakota Mermis -- Damon Severson
Fredrik Claesson -- Connor Carrick
Mackenzie Blackwood
Cory Schneider
Scratched: Janne Kuokkanen
Injured: Will Butcher (thumb surgery)

Rangers projected lineup

Phillip Di Giuseppe -- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Jesper Fast
Brett Howden -- Filip Chytil -- Julien Gauthier
Brendan Lemieux -- Greg McKegg -- Kaapo Kakko
Brendan Smith -- Jacob Trouba
Marc Staal -- Tony DeAngelo
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
Igor Shesterkin
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched: Alexandar Georgiev
Injured: Chris Kreider (fractured foot), Micheal Haley (core muscle)

Status report

The Devils did not hold a morning skate. … Kuokkanen, a forward, was recalled from Binghamton of the American Hockey League on Saturday. ... Kakko, who had been playing regularly on the third line, was working on the fourth line in practice Friday. He was a minus-3 against the Capitals.

Stat pack

Panarin has 22 points (five goals, 17 assists) in his past 15 games. … New York is 6-for-15 on the power play (40 percent) in its past three games. … Zajac needs one goal to tie Zach Parise (194) for fourth place on New Jersey's all-time list.