Golden Knights at Rangers preview

The Rangers are 4-0-1 in their past five games. They went 9-4-2 in November after going 4-5-1 in October.

Vegas has won its past two games including 4-3 in overtime against the Nashville Predators on Nov. 27, when Max Pacioretty scored to tie the game with 0.3 seconds remaining in the third period and Paul Stastny won it on a 2-on-0 rush in overtime.

Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury remains away from the Golden Knights because of a private family matter. Coach Gerard Gallant said Fleury is in Montreal and believes he will re-join them on the road trip this week but doesn't know when.

Players to watch

Pacioretty has three points (one goal, two assists) in his past three games. He played a season-high 21:05 in Vegas' 2-1 shootout win against the Arizona Coyotes on Nov. 29.

Rangers center Mika Zibanejad has three points (two goals, one assist) in three games since returning from a 13-game absence because of an upper-body injury.

They said it

"It's amazing in hockey what a couple seconds do to the mood in the locker room, the mood on the plane. We had these chances a couple weeks ago and we were on the other side. It's amazing how it changes your outlook on how things are going." -- Golden Knights defenseman Nate Schmidt

"We're getting close to the point of the season where everybody is figuring out what they have and where you are as a team. I think we've put ourselves in a good position here over the last 15, 16 games." -- Rangers coach David Quinn

Golden Knights projected lineup

Jonathan Marchessault -- William Karlsson -- Reilly Smith

Max Pacioretty -- Paul Stastny -- Mark Stone

William Carrier -- Cody Glass -- Alex Tuch

Tomas Nosek -- Nicolas Roy -- Ryan Reaves

Brayden McNabb -- Nate Schmidt

Nicolas Hague -- Shea Theodore

Jon Merrill -- Deryk Engelland

Malcolm Subban

Garret Sparks

Scratched: Nick Holden, Marc-Andre Fleury

Injured: Cody Eakin (upper body)

Rangers projected lineup 

Brendan Lemieux -- Mika Zibanejad -- Pavel Buchnevich

Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Kaapo Kakko

Chris Kreider -- Filip Chytil -- Jesper Fast

Micheal Haley -- Brett Howden -- Brendan Smith

Brady Skjei -- Jacob Trouba

Libor Hajek -- Tony DeAngelo

Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox

Henrik Lundqvist

Alexandar Georgiev

Scratched: Boo Nieves

Injured: Marc Staal (ankle), Greg McKegg (lower body)

Status report

Fast didn't participate in the morning skate and will be a game-time decision, Quinn said. … Sparks was recalled from Chicago of the American Hockey League on an emergency basis Sunday. 

Stat pack

Vegas has won two consecutive games on four other occasions this season but failed to extend the streak to three in a row each time. … The Rangers have won four straight home games and have points in six straight at the Garden (5-0-1). … New York is 20-for-21 on the penalty kill in its past five games.