Wild Warmup: Minnesota vs. New York Rangers

The essentials

The opponent

Since announcing they were open for business ahead of the trade deadline, the New York Rangers have won each of their past two games, including a 3-1 victory in Winnipeg on Sunday. Prior to their current streak, the Rangers had lost seven of eight games, prompting management to declare it was willing to sell current assets for future ones.
The game Tuesday is the second of a four-game road trip for New York, and the first meeting of the season between the clubs. The Rangers and Wild will reconvene at Madison Square Garden next Friday (Feb. 23), when Minnesota is on a three-game road trip to the New York area.
The Rangers are led offensively by Mats Zuccarello, who has 40 points. J.T. Miller has 12 goals and 37 points, while Michael Grabner leads New York with 23 goals (but has just five assists).
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has carried the load for the Rangers this season, posting a 23-17-4 record with a 2.73 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.

Connections

• Wild forward Matt Cullen recorded 41 points (16-25=41) in 80 contests with the Rangers in 2006-07.
• Wild forward Eric Staal skated in 20 games with New York during the 2015-16 campaign, totaling six points (3-3=6). He is the older brother of Rangers defenseman Marc Staal.
• Rangers forward Vinni Lettieri is from Excelsior and played collegiately at the University of Minnesota.
• Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh hails from St. Paul and played at the University of Wisconsin.
• Rangers defenseman Neal Pionk is from Hermantown and played at the University of Minnesota Duluth.
• Rangers defenseman Brady Skjei was raised in Lakeville and is a former Golden Gopher.
• Rangers defenseman Steven Kampfer appeared in 13 games with the Wild (2011-12).

State of Hockey

Per the Elias Sports Bureau, the most Minnesota-born players to dress for one game involving the Wild is eight; Keith Ballard, Ryan Carter, Zach Parise, and Nate Prosser and Nick Leddy, Anders Lee, Brock Nelson and Kyle Okposo all suited up for the Wild and Islanders on Dec. 9, 2014.
Eight Minnesota natives are likely to dress for Tuesday's game (Cullen, Parise, Prosser, Nick Seeler, Alex Stalock, Lettieri, Pionk and Skjei). McDonagh has not played since Feb. 7 with an upper-body injury and is not with the Rangers on their current road trip.
If Seeler plays, he will become the 51st Minnesota native to play in an NHL game this season.
Related:
- Seeler readies for NHL debut - Dubnyk named Third Star of the Week