RANGERS vs. COYOTES, 7 p.m.
Madison Square Garden
MSG Network, 98.7 FM

GAME DAY
The Rangers play their seventh game of the 2019-20 season and continue a season-long five-game homestand tonight, October 22, against the Arizona Coyotes at Madison Square Garden. Including tonight's game, the Rangers will play six of their next seven games, and eight of their next 10 contests, at MSG.

RANGERS VS. COYOTES

• All-Time*: 47-26-6-1 (27-10-2-1 at home; 20-16-4-0 on the road) *Note: All-Time record includes games against the Winnipeg Jets from 1979-80 - 1995-96 and the Phoenix Coyotes from 1996-97 - 2013-14
• 2019-20: Tonight's game is the first of two meetings between the Rangers and Coyotes, and the only meeting between the two teams at MSG. Following tonight's game, the Rangers and Coyotes will face each other on the following date: Mar. 14 (at Arizona).
• 2018-19: The Rangers posted a 0-1-1 record (0-0-1 at home; 0-1-0 on the road). The Blueshirts were 3-for-8 (37.5%) on the power play in the season series and recorded a single-game season-high three power play goals on Dec. 14, 2018 at MSG.
• The Rangers have earned at least one point in 10 of their last 11 games against the Coyotes, dating back to Mar. 24, 2014 (9-1-1 record); the Blueshirts posted a nine-game winning streak against the Coyotes from Mar. 24, 2014 to Jan. 6, 2018 and a 10-game point streak from Mar. 24, 2014 to Dec. 14, 2018 (9-0-1). The Rangers' nine-game winning streak was their longest winning streak against the Jets/Coyotes franchise in the Blueshirts' franchise history, and their 10-game point streak was also the longest point streak against the Jets/Coyotes franchise in the Rangers' franchise history.
• Nine of the last 16 meetings between the Rangers and Coyotes have been decided by one goal.

Jesper Fast is not one of the new faces around the Rangers' room in 2019-20, and he is the kind of player who will be happy to cede the headlines to teammates, new or old. It's not as if the Rangers are just getting to know, or trying to integrate, the right winger. On the contrary: It is Fast's familiar, workmanlike consistency and versatility that is a major reason he has been so highly esteemed throughout his seven seasons as a Ranger.

"This is a guy that is a model teammate, he's a guy you want to coach," David Quinn said on Monday. "Never takes a day off, physically and mentally. His teammates have an incredible amount of respect for him. He's incredibly likeable. There's not a lot not to like about this guy as a person and a player."

The Rangers had an opponent on the ropes and staggering from the start of the third period to the finish on Sunday afternoon, and the bell couldn't come soon enough for the Vancouver Canucks. But when it finally rang, rather than celebrating the best period of hockey they've played this season, the Rangers were left lamenting that it was not quite enough.

"The third period, we got the speed going, the legs going, and started playing very desperate hockey, and it looked great," said Henrik Lundqvist. "It was just too big a hill to climb."

RANGERS vs. CANUCKS, 1 p.m.
Junior Rangers Kids Day
Presented by Party City
Madison Square Garden
MSG Network, 98.7 FM

GAME DAY
It has been reinforced to the Rangers as they have traversed this strange schedule over the first half of October: There's no substitute for playing regular games at a normal NHL rhythm.

This much will be reinforced over the last half of October: There's no place like home.

With the schedule finally keeping the Blueshirts busy, now it's time for them to stay home awhile: Five games over the next 10 days at Madison Square Garden - call it six, unofficially, because the Rangers Alumni are in on the action with an afternoon game against the Bruins' alums one week from Sunday. Following the Alumni Classic, the Rangers will face Boston in their 2,000th home game at the current Madison Square Garden.

This is the Rangers' longest homestand of the 2019-20 season, a chance for some traction and some home cooking with games against Arizona, Buffalo, Boston and Tampa Bay.

TODAY'S GAME
The Rangers play their sixth game of the 2019-20 season and begin a season-long five-game homestand today, Oct. 20, against the
Vancouver Canucks at Madison Square Garden (1:00 p.m. ET - TV: MSG Network, Radio: ESPN 98.7 FM). Including today's game, the
Rangers will play seven of their next eight games, and nine of their next 11 contests, at MSG.

RANGERS VS. CANUCKS

• All-Time: 81-33-8-1 (43-14-5-1 at home; 38-19-3-0 on the road)
• 2019-20: Today's game is the first of two meetings between the Rangers and Canucks, and the only meeting between the two teams at MSG. Following today's game, the Rangers and Canucks will face each other on the following date: Jan. 4 (at Vancouver).
• 2018-19: The Rangers posted a 1-1-0 record (1-0-0 at home; 0-1-0 on the road). Henrik Lundqvist posted a 2.04 GAA and a .925 SV% (49 saves on 53 shots) in two appearances. The Blueshirts were 2-for-10 (20.0%) on the power play and 8-for-9 (88.9%) on the penalty kill in the season series.
• The Rangers have registered 495 goals in 123 all-time regular-season games against the Canucks (4.02 goals per game; does not include goals scored in a shootout). The Blueshirts have averaged more goals per game against Vancouver than against any of their current NHL opponents in franchise history.
• New York has won four of its last five games against Vancouver (4-1-0 record) and has tallied 20 goals in the five contests.
• The Rangers have earned at least one point in 11 of their last 14 games against Vancouver, dating back to Jan. 13, 2011 (10-3-1 record).
• Three of the last four games, and six of the last nine games, between the Rangers and Canucks have been decided by one goal. In addition, four of the last nine contests between the two teams have been decided in either overtime or a shootout.

WASHINGTON -- It was right about the midpoint of the game on Friday night when Henrik Lundqvist made stopping a penalty shot look like one of the easier things in the world to do. His team was trailing by two goals and badly needed a stop; he supplied it, and the lift it gave his team was palpable.

David Quinn spoke afterward of how his goaltender had kept his team in a game during that middle frame. "Unfortunately," the Head Coach said, "we weren't able to do anything with it."

On a night when Lundqvist held Washington's second-period push at bay and gave his team a chance to mount a rally, ultimately there was just too much T.J. Oshie, too much John Carlson, and too many chances for them to combine on power plays as the Blueshirts went down to a 5-2 defeat to the Capitals on Friday night.

RANGERS at CAPITALS, 7 p.m.
Capital One Arena
MSG Network, 1050 AM

GAME DAY
There may come a time down the long road of an NHL season when the Rangers do not particularly relish the thought of back-to-back games and three in four days. This is not that time.

When David Quinn spoke on Thursday night about "silver linings," one of them simply was that the Rangers get a chance to put one game after another, without a week of down time in between. Their next chance comes Friday night against the Capitals in Washington, completing the Blueshirts' first back-to-back this season.

TONIGHT'S GAME
The Rangers play their fifth game of the 2019-20 season and conclude a back-to-back set tonight, Oct. 18, against the Washington
Capitals in a Metropolitan Division matchup at Capital One Arena (7:00 p.m. ET - TV: MSG Network, Radio: ESPN 1050 AM). New
York is concluding its first back-to-back set of the season tonight. The Rangers have 13 back-to-back sets during the 2019-20 season;
the team had 11 back-to-back sets in both 2017-18 and 2018-19. Only two Eastern Conference teams have fewer back-to-back sets
than the Blueshirts in 2019-20.

RANGERS VS. CAPITALS

• All-Time: 97-96-18-11 (53-44-9-5 at home; 44-52-9-6 on the road)
• 2019-20: Tonight's game is the first of four meetings between the Rangers and Capitals, and the first of two meetings between the two teams at Washington. Following tonight's game, the Rangers and Capitals will face each other on the following dates: Nov. 20 (at MSG), Mar. 5 (at MSG), Mar. 26 (at Washington).
• 2018-19: The Rangers posted a 0-1-3 record (0-1-1 at home; 0-0-2 on the road). All four games were decided by two or fewer goals, and three of the four contests were decided in either overtime or a shootout. The Rangers tallied at least three goals in three of four games in the season series. Brady Skjei tied for first among all skaters with three goals in the season series, while Chris Kreider (two goals, two assists) and Mika Zibanejad (one goal, three assists) each recorded four points in four games.
• All of the last nine meetings between New York and Washington have been decided by two or fewer goals. In addition, 12 of the last 13 games between the Rangers and Capitals have been decided by two or fewer goals, and seven of those 13 meetings have been decided by one goal.
• Four of the last five meetings, and five of the last seven meetings, between the Rangers and Capitals have been decided in either overtime or a shootout.

NEWARK -- The snap of Artemi Panarin's stick late in the third period of Thursday night's game was symbolism so clear it could have skated over to the Rangers' bench and bopped them over the head. Things on this night simply were breaking for the other guys.

Panarin was attempting a breakaway pass to a teammate exiting the penalty box with under eight minutes to play in a one-goal game when everything backfired in the blink of an eye: His stick exploded on him, forcing him to leave it and the puck alone, and New Jersey's Nikita Gusev swooped right in to score the insurance marker that effectively squashed a Ranger rally in a 5-2 loss to Devils.

RANGERS at DEVILS, 7 p.m.
October 17th, 2019 
Prudential Center
NBCSN, 1050 AM

GAME DAY
There are numerous new facets to a fierce old rivalry as the Rangers and Devils get set to renew acquaintances on Thursday night in Newark. To get a full sense of how much all those new facets are commanding players' attention inside the Rangers' room, just ask Henrik Lundqvist.

"Not much," Lundqvist said with a smile and a shrug. "There's a lot of different storylines with the draft picks and the free-agent signings on both teams, and a lot of times it's these little extra things that make rivalries special to think about. That's great for the fans. For us it's an important game just to go out and get a win."