NEW YORK — The Nashville Predators are widely considered one of the teams likeliest to contend for the Stanley Cup this season. The New York Rangers are … not.But the Rangers will get an early opportunity to prove the prognosticators wrong Thursday night when they host the Predators in the season opener for both teams at Madison Square Garden.The Rangers embarked upon a rebuilding project late last season
Adidas Dylan DeMelo Jersey , finishing 34-39-9 and in last place in the Metropolitan Division. New York shipped off several veterans at the trade deadline, including Rick Nash and captain Ryan McDonagh.Article continues below ...Immediately after the season, the Rangers fired head coach Alain Vigneault, who directed the team to playoff berths in his first four seasons at the helm and steered them to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first campaign in 2013-14. Vigneault’s successor is David Quinn, who arrived from Boston University to oversee the type of youth movement rarely undertaken in the Big Apple. But Quinn is not ready to concede the season, even though the Rangers’ uphill task is made taller by their placement in the Metropolitan Division — home of the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who combined to win the last three Stanley Cups.“Obviously, a lot has been made of the different direction we’re in right now, but we want to win every game,” Quinn told reporters. “I don’t think about it any other way, I think about coming here every day, being the best team we can be
Adidas Paul Carey Jersey , making every guy a better player, making us a better team, collectively, and playing the way we want to play.“And the winning and losing will take care of itself. And we feel we have enough good NHL players to give us a chance night in and night out.”There’s little doubt the Predators have the players to compete for a title. Nashville, which reached its first Cup Finals following the 2016-17 season, led the NHL with 117 points last season (53-18-11) but fell to the Winnipeg Jets in a seven-game Western Conference semifinal series.Head coach Peter Laviolette, who has put together a Hall of Fame resume by leading three franchises to the Cup Finals (he won the Cup with Carolina in 2005-06 and coached Philadelphia to the title round in 2009-10), is aware of the expectations surrounding the Predators and is eager to begin finding out just how good his team can become.“It’s the beginning of a journey for our group, and you hope to play a long time and find success all the way through,” Laviolette told reporters. “That brings excitement to the guys that get sick of practices and training camp. They want to play games, and New York is a great place for us to start.”Two franchise icons are expected to start the game in goal for New York and Nashville.Henrik Lundqvist is scheduled to set a franchise record by starting his 13th straight season opener for the Rangers. Lundqvist, who enters this year ranked within the NHL’s top 15 all-time in wins
Adidas Chris Tierney Jersey , games and saves, is 8-5-0 in 13 games against the Predators.Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Pekka Rinne, who has spent his entire 12-year career with the Predators, will draw the start. Rinne, whose Vezina Trophy last year was his first, is 3-2-1 in six games against the Rangers. COLUMBUS, Ohio — The Columbus Blue Jackets return home from a three-game western swing to face the Dallas Stars on Tuesday night at Nationwide Arena.The business trip wasn’t exactly a California dream, but the Blue Jackets can accept the results. They posted a 1-1-1 record, losing at the last stop 3-2 in overtime to the Anaheim Ducks.Pierre-Luc Dubois‘ second goal of the game with 32 seconds remaining in the third period salvaged a point for the Blue Jackets in the final game of the trip. Anaheim’s Cam Fowler scored his third goal of the game 36 seconds into overtime to end the Ducks’ seven-game losing streak and foil the Blue Jackets’ chance to pick up another point.Article continues below ...“We need consistency. We understand how we need to play,” Blue Jackets defenseman Seth Jones said, according to the team’s website. “We had a great game in San Jose (4-1 win on Thursday). Then we kind of, I thought
Adidas Gabriel Gagne Jersey , wet the bed in LA (4-1 loss to the Kings).“Then we come here (to Anaheim), maybe 35 minutes is good, 40 minutes is good, but we’ve got to put 60 minutes together every night. It’s never going to be perfect, but we’ve got to find a way to not trail every game, especially not come back every game, and jump out to a lead.”Blue Jackets coach John Tortorella is trying to instill confidence in the players.“I don’t know where it goes sometimes when you don’t have it,” he said. “But we’ve got try and find it.“We’ve got some guys who don’t feel good about themselves, so we’ve got to try and build them up.”Tortorella also is trying to figure out how to jump-start the Blue Jackets’ power play, which went 0 of 6 against the Ducks and has failed to convert on the last 20 opportunities.Tuesday’s game against the Stars will be the Blue Jackets’ fourth straight against Western Conference opponents and seventh in nine games before they return to playing Eastern Conference teams.“It starts with getting momentum, getting some chances,” Tortorella said. “That’s how you get some confidence
Adidas Mikkel Boedker Jersey , then the puck gets into the net.”The Blue Jackets (7-6-1) have dominated the series with the Stars (8-5-1) in recent years, winning the past five meetings between the clubs and three straight at home. But each of the last three games in the series was decided by one goal.Columbus is 10-2-1 in the last 13 games against Dallas and 5-1-1 in the last seven at Nationwide Arena.Blue Jackets goaltender Sergei Bobrovsky also has fared well against the Stars during his career, posting a sterling 10-1-1 record with a 1.74 goals-against average and a .944 save percentage.Bobrovsky hasn’t come close to elevating his play to that level yet this season. In nine games, he has posted a 3-6-0 record with a 2.46 goals-against average and a .919 save percentage.He’ll face a team enduring the second night of a back-to-back that began Monday with a 2-1 overtime loss in Boston to the Bruins that ended a three-game win streak. The game in Columbus ends Boston’s six-game road trip.After Radek Faksa scored at 3:51 of the opening period on Dallas’ first shot of the game against Boston, the Stars were shut out the rest of the way by Bruins goalie Tuukka Rask. The Stars gave up the winning goal on a five-on-three when Brad Marchand beat goalie Anton Khudobin with just 31 seconds left in OT.Bruins No. 1 goalie Ben Bishop is expected to be back in the net against the Blue Jackets. He is 6-4-0 with a 2.32 goals-against average and a .923 save percentage.Stars captain Jamie Benn has a history playing well against the Blue Jackets. He has contributed a goal or assist in the Stars’ last nine visits to Nationwide Arena.First-year Stars coach Jim Montgomery likes the direction the team is headed despite Monday’s loss.“There’s a lot of belief right now,” Montgomery said. “I don’t see any complacency in our group, I just see a determination and a focus that I haven’t seen before. That’s the exciting part.”
