New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist and forward Rick Nash each are day to day with injuries and will not be in the lineup Thursday, when the Rangers try to win their sixth straight road game. Lundqvist is out because of a lower-body injury and Nash has been hampered by an upper-body injury. "Obviously [Lundqvist] was in the last game," coach Alain Vigneault said, referring to a 5-2 victory at the Florida Panthers on Tuesday. "Nash has been carrying this upper-body injury and it's just too painful today." Backup goaltender Antti Raanta, who has won his past three starts, including a 1-0 overtime victory at the Tampa Bay Lightning on Monday, will start. Goaltender Brandon Halverson was recalled from Greenville of the ECHL on an emergency basis to back up Raanta. Forward Matt Puempel will play right wing on the third line with Jimmy Vesey and Kevin Hayes. Vigneault gave a vote of confidence to center Derek Stepan, who has gone 22 games without a goal; Stepan has 12 goals in 67 games this season. "He has got to come in and see every game as a new opportunity," Vigneault said. "You can't carry the burden of (22) games when you're coming to the rink. He's got to move his feet, he's got to make plays when he has the opportunity. He's got to be competing hard on 1-on-1 pucks. If he does that, he'll be fine." The Rangers, 12-4-1 in their past 17 games, are two points behind the Columbus Blue Jackets and Pittsburgh Penguins for second place in the Metropolitan Division, and have the best road record in the NHL at 24-8-0.
