Perfect Garden Meets Perfect Road Trip as Ducks Visit Rangers
Anaheim has yet to lose away from home, New York has yet to lose at MSG, and something has to give with Shesterkin sidelined.
Written before the game
Something has to give at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers are unbeaten at home at 5-0-0, and the Ducks are unbeaten on the road at 3-0-0. On paper, these teams create almost identical chances. The gap between them is at the other end of the ice.
New York has been the tighter team defensively. Using expected goals, which measure how many goals a team's chances are worth, the Rangers are generating about 3.29 a game and giving up about 2.83. Anaheim creates a similar amount, but its chances against are worth about the same as its own. That helps explain why New York sits third in the East with 13 points, while Anaheim is 11th in the West with 8.
For the Ducks to steal this one, they need their road game to travel once more and need Beckett Sennecke and Leo Carlsson to keep producing through a long injury list. Troy Terry and Ian Moore are unavailable, and Mikael Granlund is day-to-day. Anaheim has also dropped two straight.
The Rangers have their own question mark in goal. Igor Shesterkin is on injured reserve, so Dylan Garand carries the load after a 1-0 overtime loss in Columbus.
