New York is coming off an exciting - albeit nerve racking - 7-4 win over the San Jose Sharks on Monday night at Garden that saw the Blueshirts nearly surrender a three-goal lead before putting the game away with a pair of empty net goals.
Chris Kreider continued his blistering pace, scoring his third goal of the season and adding an assist en route to becoming the first Ranger since Brian Leetch in 1992 to open a season with three consecutive two-point games.
Rookie Jimmy Vesey potted the first goal of his career that ended up being the game-winner, while Rick Nash, Kevin Hayes and Marc Staal all scored their first goals of the season. In fact, 10 different Blueshirts have goals through three games, with only three players on the roster not having at least a point, two of which are Dylan McIlrath and Josh Jooris, both of whom made their season debuts Monday evening.
New York will be getting Kevin Klein back after he missed the first three games of the regular season due to back spasms. He ruled himself ready to go Tuesday at practice. Head coach Alain Vigneault did not say who would be coming out of the lineup to make room for No. 8.
Vigneault offered up several more injury updates, including that Dan Girardi could begin skating today or Thursday. Forward Pavel Buchnevich is day-to-day with back spasms of his own. No lineup changes are expected at forward.
Henrik Lundqvist is expected to get the call after watching Monday's game on the bench. Lundqvist is 5-3-2 with a 2.17 GAA and a .943 save percentage with three shutouts in 10 career games agains the Wings, with five of those wins - and all three shutouts - coming in his last six appearances.
The Red Wings come in off a 5-1 victory Monday night against the Ottawa Senators, the first win of its young season. Forward Thomas Vanek is experiencing an early renaissance of sorts, scoring two goals and three assists in his first three games with the Wings. Defenseman Mike Green notched the first hat trick of his career Monday night, and like Vanek, has five points in three games.
Goaltender Petr Mrazek has started in all three of Detroit's games and has a 1-2 record to go along with a 3.03 GAA and a .913 save percentage.
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