Preview: Rangers Begin Back-to-Back in Toronto

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The Rangers are approaching something of a mile marker in the long hockey season, two weekend games before the NHL's Christmas break, an important two-city back-to-back before everybody in Blue can take a little breath.
"We're going to try to leave everything we've got out there for this weekend," Henrik Lundqvist said after practice on Friday, "and try to go into this break with a good feeling."
Standing in between the Rangers and that good feeling going into Christmas is two games in two nights, beginning on Saturday in Toronto against one of the NHL's emerging elite, and concluding Sunday against a division rival back home at Madison Square Garden.

Saturday's opponent is a team that became whole at the start of December and is showing signs of catching fire just ahead of Christmas. The Maple Leafs finally signed holdout William Nylander on Dec. 1, right about the time they got Auston Matthews back from a shoulder injury - and following a stretch of four losses in five games, they have won their last two, over New Jersey and Florida, by a combined score of 13-3.
A Toronto power play that had been in a 1-for-25 funk scored on all three of its chances against the Panthers.
"You saw what happened (Thursday) night - very opportunistic on the power play, and they've got a lot of skill," Quinn said. "We've just got to make sure that we play responsible, smart, physical hockey, not get in the box. And be patient: Too often against teams like this when you help create their offense, that's when you really get in trouble. Our puck management is going to be very important."
"We play a really good team that I know our guys have a lot of respect for. In Toronto, Hockey Night in Canada - a lot of excitement around the game, just the fact that you're going up to Toronto to play Toronto on a Saturday night. So I'm not too concerned about our focus and us living in the moment."
Quinn's group will come into Toronto off of three idle days on their schedule; they practiced on two of them, including Friday's session in Westchester that put heavy focus on a power play that has come alive to score four times over the last three games.
But the Blueshirts also are coming off the most dominant period of hockey they have played in the month of December: Their 3-1 Garden victory over Anaheim on Tuesday came on the strength of three third-period goals, including Kevin Hayes' shorthanded winner in the final 40 seconds, during a period in which they outshot the Ducks 14-1.

"It was a good win for us because it showcased how patience can really pay off," Lundqvist said. "I thought it did - we stepped up in the third and the energy was a little higher, and we kept pushing. A lot of wins are going to look like that, where you just have to keep your patience, and not get ahead of yourself."
Lundqvist had a front-row seat for the win over the Ducks, as Alexandar Georgiev stepped in for his first start since Dec. 1, stopping everything but one fluke bank-in off a teammate. The goalies will platoon this weekend, too, with Lundqvist taking Saturday's start in Toronto and Georgiev getting the nod back home against the Flyers leading into the three-day break.
"When the schedule is intense and you play a lot of games, a lot of times the biggest challenge is not the physical aspect, I think it's the mental aspect," said Lundqvist, who is 8-3-4 over his last 16 starts. "So this week was a good opportunity for me to focus a little extra in practice and mentally kind of take a step to the side here, and regroup.
Hayes, meanwhile, enters the weekend on a five-game points streak, with multiple points in four of those games and 10 points overall during the span. Four of those points are goals, and he has scored them every which way: 5-on-5, power play, and shorthanded. Not to mention that he added the game-deciding score in the shootout against Florida, on a night when he shifted over to right wing and had a pair of assists to begin this points streak.
Hayes has gotten to run with the Rangers' top power-play unit recently - three of his points during the streak have been on power plays, five at even strength, two shorthanded - but apart from that, Hayes said, not a lot is different.

"I've been playing pretty much the same game the whole year, trying to be a two-way player that can provide offense and play good defense," Hayes said. "It's something I learned coming into the league: Never get too high, never get too low. There's a reason why you're in this league and there's a reason you play every night. I just try to stick to what I do best."
"I'm a big believer in getting the best five players on the power play," Quinn said of shuffling Hayes around. "Sometimes it's hard to do because of lines and things of that nature, and we lost Shatty (Kevin Shattenkirk to a separated shoulder) and that changed a little bit of the dynamic to our power play overall. I just thought it was the right thing to do. I thought it would behoove us to get (Hayes) and Mika and Zuc and Kreids and Neal on the same power play. So far it's worked."
Hayes carries the longest points streak of any player in Saturday night's game, but plenty of Leafs got to pad their numbers over the past two games, including the 21-year-old Matthews (3-3-6 against the Devils and Panthers) and newcomer John Tavares (3-1-4), who leads the Leafs with 23 goals. Matthews is second with 19 goals in only 21 games, while another 21-year-old, Mitch Marner, leads the Leafs with 47 points (10-37-47).
Tavares will play his 44th career game against the Rangers - the most he has played against any team other than Pittsburgh (45) - but his first in anything other than an Islanders sweater.
"I think he looks pretty much the same: Really, really good player, surrounded by some really good players, and obviously that makes him even more dangerous," Lundqvist said of Tavares, who has 38 points (14-24-38) in his career against the Rangers. "They probably have - especially if you're looking at the forwards - probably the most skilled group in the league. Maybe, I don't know, but they definitely move the puck well, play high-speed hockey.
"Puck management will be key. … Another game where patience will be really important."

PROJECTED LINEUP

72 Chytil - 93 Zibanejad - 36 Zuccarello
20 Kreider - 13 Hayes - 89 Buchnevich
90 Namestnikov - 21 Howden - 26 Vesey
50 Andersson - 24 Nieves - 16 Strome
18 Staal - 44 Pionk
76 Skjei - 54 McQuaid
42 Smith - 77 DeAngelo
30 Lundqvist
40 Georgiev

NUMBERS GAME

Over his last nine appearances in Toronto, Lundqvist is 5-1-2 with 2.33 GAA and .922 save percentage.
Morgan Rielly ranks second on the Leafs with 40 points (11-29-40), tops among NHL defensemen.
Kevin Hayes' five-game points streak matches a career high, reached three times in his career, the most recent in 2016-17.
Brady Skjei will play his 200th NHL game, all as a Ranger.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Mats Zuccarello has six career multipoint games against Toronto, and 19 points (9-10-19) over his last 11 games vs. the Maple Leafs.
Auston Matthews, who missed 14 games to a shoulder injury, leads the NHL with a scoring rate of .90 goals per game (19 in 21 games).