RANGERS RUNDOWN
- The New York Rangers close out 2022 with the a road matchup against the Tampa Bay Lightning at Amalie Arena (7:00 PM ET - TV: MSG 2 - Radio: ESPN 1050 AM).
- The Blueshirts have won eight of their last 10 games and are 9-3-1 over their last 13 games.
- On the road, the Blueshirts are 11-5-1 for 23 points and have earned a point in 11 of its last 14 games (10-3-1) away from home. New York will play four of its next five games on the road.
- Tonight is the fourth of eight-straight the Rangers will play against a team from the Eastern Conference. The next game New York will play from a team in the Western Conference is Minnesota on January 10. The next time the Blueshirts travel to a Western Conference city is February 15 against Vancouver.
- The Rangers have won their last four games against the Lightning and five of their last six against them. New York has never won five-straight games against Tampa Bay.
- Tonight the Rangers will wear their home blue jerseys in Tampa Bay, something the club did twice last season (Dec. 10 at BUF, Mar. 29 at TBL). New York has won its last three games dating back to 2019-20 when wearing their home blues on the road.
- New York has scored five or more goals in three of their last five games. The Rangers have seven occurrences of six or more goals this year, which are tied for the second most in the NHL (BUF - 8). Their three games with seven or more goals this season are tied for the most in the league, also with Buffalo.
- The Rangers defensemen group has collected 85 points, tied for the third most in the NHL. New York's 64 assists by defensemen are tied for the fourth most in the league.
- New York's nine comeback victories this year are tied for the eighth most in the NHL.
- The Blueshirts have 11 players with five goals this season, tied for the second most amount in the NHL. Five Rangers have 25 or more points this year (Zibanejad, Fox, Panarin, Kreider, Trocheck), tied for the third most in the NHL.
- New York ranks fourth in the NHL in hits with 987.
- When tied after two periods, the Rangers have a league-high nine wins (9-1-5).
- The Rangers have five prospects represented at the World Junior Championships in Halifax: Brennan Othmann (Canada), Noah Laba (United States), Kalle Väisänen (Finland), Jaroslav Chmelar (Czechia), and Adam Sykora (Slovakia).
Pregame Notes: Rangers at Lightning - 12.29.22
RANGERS AND LIGHTNING CONNECTIONS
CLOSING OUT 2022
The Rangers will play their final game of 2022 tonight. The Blueshirts have a 51-28-7 regular season record for 109 points during the calendar year, ranking tied for eighth in the league in wins and 10th in points.
FOX CLOSING IN ON 200 POINTS
Adam Fox is two points away from recording 200 points in his career. Since 2019-20, Fox would become the fifth defensemen in the NHL to record 200 points.
If Fox records two points in his 240th game tonight, he would require the 14th fewest (tied) games all-time among NHL defensemen to record 200 points. He would become the second Ranger to do so before 240 games (Leetch - 211).
Fox has points in seven of his last 12 games (1G-9A) and 18 of his last 25 games (5G-21A). Fox has recorded at least one point in 24 of 36 games this year.
When Fox records multiple points, the Rangers are 7-0-0.
Fox has skated over 20:00 minutes in every game this season, over 25 minutes in 17 contests and his season-high was 30:04 against the Devils on Nov. 28.
TROCHECK-ING THE BOX SCORE
Vincent Trocheck has points in six of his last seven (3G-7A), has three multi-point performances in his last six games, and has 13 points (4G-9A) in his last 10 games.
Trocheck is one of only three NHL players who have registered 25+ points and 80+ hits this season (along with Alex Ovechkin and Brady Tkachuck).
In 32 of 36 games this season, Trocheck has had either 1+ points, 3+ hits, or a 50.0%+ faceoff win percentage; he has hit two of the three categories in 20 of the 36 games, and he hit all three categories in the same game three times (Dec. 15 vs. TOR, Dec. 5 vs. STL, Nov. 8 vs. NYI).
SHESTERKIN IN NET
Igor Shesterkin is 17-6-4 on the season, his 17 wins are the second most in the NHL behind Boston's Linus Ullmark's 20. Shesterkin is 7-2-1 in his last 10 starts with a .920 save percentage and 2.27 GAA. Shesterkin has allowed one goal or fewer in four of his last eight games.
On the road this year, Shesterkin is 9-1-1 with a .929 save percentage and 2.08 GAA.
In the calendar year, Shesterkin ranks tied for first among goalies with 50 starts in wins (39), first in save percentage (.927) and first in GAA (2.21). His six shutouts are tied for the third most in 2022.
KREIDING TO MAKE HISTORY
Chris Kreider has 16 goals on the year and has nine in his last 16 games. Kreider is one goal from tying Steve Vickers for the eighth most in Rangers history.
In the calendar year 2022, Kreider has scored 49 goals, the eighth most in the NHL in that span and two behind Mike Gartner (51) for the most in franchise history.
In addition, Kreider has 36 career game-winning goals, tying him with Adam Graves for the seventh most in franchise history.
PANARIN PUTTING UP POINTS
Artemi Panarin has points in nine of his last 12 games (3G-13A) and multi-point games in five of his last 11 contests. Panarin has points in 12 of his last 16 games (4G-15A) and 41 points (9G-32A) in 36 games this season.
Panarin ranks sixth in the NHL in assists (32) and since December 2, Panarin's 13 assists are tied for the fifth most in the NHL.
Panarin's 80 regular season assists since Jan. 1, 2022, are the most in one calendar year in franchise history. He is one of four active players to collect at least 80 assists in one calendar year, following Connor McDavid (105 in 2021, 82 so far in 2022 & 80 in 2019), Sidney Crosby (81 in 2006) and Leon Draisaitl (80 in 2021).
MIKA'S MISSION
Mika Zibanejad has notched five assists in his past five games. He has points in 10 of his last 14 games (5G-10A), 15 of his last 20 games (6G-14A) and in 22 of his last 28 contests (11G-19A).
On the Rangers, Zibanejad ranks second in goals (15), third in assists (23) and second in points (38).
BLUESHIRT BULLETS
- Braden Schneider's four goals since November 22 are tied for the third most among NHL defensemen in that span.
- Jacob Trouba has 110 hits and 88 blocked shots. He is the only player in the NHL with both 100+ hits and 75+ blocked shots. Trouba ranks seventh in the NHL in hits and second in blocked shots.
- K'Andre Miller has points in six of his last 10 games (2G-6A). Miller's 30 takeaways this year are tied for the fourth most for a defensemen.
- Sammy Blais ranks third in the NHL (min. 25 games played) in hits per 60 (20.19).
- Among players who have skated in 20 games this year, Julien Gauthier ranks third in penalties drawn/60 (2.55).
- Kaapo Kakko has five goals in his last nine games and is one goal from tying his career-high of 10 set in his rookie season (2019-20).
SPECIAL TEAMS
- The Blueshirts have scored on the power play in seven of their last 11 games and eight of their last 14 contests.
- The Rangers' penalty kill has been perfect in their five of their last seven games.
