Maple Leafs at Rangers preview

MAPLE LEAFS (29-18-5) at RANGERS (25-20-5)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, TSN4, NHL.TV

Toronto goalie Frederik Andersen, who made 28 saves in a 5-0 win against the New York Islanders on Wednesday, could start for the second straight night.
Henrik Lundqvist will start for the Rangers, who have lost three of their past four games.
Toronto has defeated New York twice this season; 8-5 at Air Canada Centre on Oct. 7 and 3-2 at the Garden on Dec. 23.

Players to watch

Maple Leafs center Auston Matthews has four goals in his past five games.
Rangers forward Rick Nash has six goals in his past six games, including three two-goal games.

They said it

"It's almost surreal. It happens and then you're like, 'Wait, did that really just happen?' And then you're like, 'Nice, it did.' That was nice. It's a big win and it was nice to contribute." -- Maple Leafs defenseman Justin Holl, who scored a goal in his NHL debut Wednesday
"It's a good one here for this team. ... we're facing a really skilled team tomorrow. ... They use their speed and transition game to hurt us a little bit so that's something we need to be aware of going into tomorrow's game." -- Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist after practice Wednesday

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Maple Leafs projected lineup

Zach Hyman -- Auston Matthews -- William Nylander
Patrick Marleau -- Nazem Kadri -- Mitch Marner
James van Riemsdyk -- Tyler Bozak -- Connor Brown
Leo Komarov -- Dominic Moore --
Kasperi Kapanen
Jake Gardiner -- Nikita Zaitsev
Travis Dermott
-- Justin Holl
Andreas Borgman -- Connor Carrick
Frederik Andersen
Curtis McElhinney
Scratched: Matt Martin, Josh Leivo
Injured: Morgan Rielly (arm), Nikita Soshnikov(lower body), Roman Polak (viral infection), Ron Hainsey (illness)

Rangers projected lineup

Rick Nash -- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich
J.T. Miller -- Kevin Hayes -- Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner --
Peter Holland
-- Jesper Fast
Jimmy Vesey -- David Desharnais -- Cody McLeod
Nick Holden -- Ryan McDonagh
Brady Skjei -- Marc Staal
Brendan Smith -- Tony DeAngelo
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Scratched: Steven Kampfer, Paul Carey
Injured: Chris Kreider (rib surgery), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery)

Status report

Neither team held a morning skate. ... Holl, who was an emergency recall from the Toronto Marlies of the American Hockey League on Wednesday, likely will remain in the lineup with Hainsey and Polak likely to miss the game . ... McLeod will make his Rangers debut after being claimed off waivers from the Nashville Predators last week. Coach Alain Vigneault said Kreider skated by himself Wednesday but didn't offer a timetable on his possible return.

Stat pack

Matthews has four goals and two assists in his past six games. The Maple Leafs had 50 shots on goal Wednesday and have had at least 30 in nine of their past 10 games. ... McDonagh scored two goals against the San Jose Sharks on Jan. 25 after having none in his first 44 games of the season. The Rangers are the only team in the NHL that has eight players with at least 10 goals.