The Vancouver Canucks (32-25-12) face JT Miller and the New York Rangers (33-31-6) in a matinee at Madison Square Garden on Saturday morning. 
Both teams are just below the playoff bar in their respective conferences. The Canucks are a point behind St. Louis, while the Rangers are two points back of Montreal.

What we know

With a 1 PM local time start time in Manhattan, the Canucks will not have a morning skate. Final lineup details may not be known until closer to game time. Former Ranger Filip Chytil remains in concussion protocol and is not with the team to start its six-game road trip. As such he will miss his fourth straight game and his first visit back to New York. Rookie defenceman Victor Mancini is expected to draw back into the line-up to face his former team.
Kevin Lankinen is likely to start for the fourth straight game and the ninth time in the last 10 outings. Lankinen made 25 saves in a 4-3 overtime loss in St. Louis on Thursday.
Brock Boeser scored twice for the second straight game. His first goal was the 200th of his NHL career and his second came with less than four seconds remaining in the third period to force overtime. Boeser became the third fastest Canuck to the 200-goal mark behind only Pavel Bure and Trevor Linden. With 22 goals on the season, Boeser has moved within one of Jake DeBrusk for the team lead. 
Elias Pettersson was in on both Boeser goals on Thursday to push his point streak to six games (three goals and six assists). Kiefer Sherwood had the Canucks other goal to go along with 10 hits on the night. His next hit will set a new NHL record for hits in a season since the league started tracking that statistic. He heads into the Rangers game with 383 hits on the season.
Quinn Hughes logged 11:30 of the third period and 30:18 overall on Thursday night. It was his third highest ice time of the season and also the third time he’s crested the 30-minute mark in a game this season. In his past five games, he’s averaging a league-high 27:45 of ice time.
The Canucks need every point they can gather right now. While the team is 17-12-5 on the road this season, it has not managed to win a road game in regulation since a 3-1 victory in Nashville on January 29th. Since then, the Canucks are 3-5-1 on the road with overtime victories in San Jose and Los Angeles and a shootout win in Calgary.

The opponent

The Rangers are reeling having lost three straight and have just two wins in their last nine games (2-5-2). On Thursday, they fell 4-3 to the Toronto Maple Leafs. All three of their recent losses have come on home ice. Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider and Will Borgen scored the New York goals and Igor Shesterkin made 24 saves in his sixth straight start. He has tended the Ranger net in 13 of the last 15 games. 
JT Miller was held off the scoresheet on Thursday. While he has seven goals and 18 points in 20 games with the Rangers, he’s gone nine games since his last goal and three games without a point.
Panarin leads the Rangers with 31 goals and 75 points. He has a 25-point edge on his next closest teammate Adam Fox who has 50 points on the season. Vincent Trocheck is second on the team with 20 goals. 
Chris Krieder is having a season for the ages with 19 goals and just 4 assists. He’s the only player in the league with more than 20 points and fewer than five assists. 
It’s been a season of constant roster churn for the Rangers who have traded away Jacob Trouba, Kappo Kakko, Filip Chytil, Victor Mancini, Ryan Lindgren, Jimmy Vesey and Reilly Smith since opening night.
The Rangers defeated the Canucks 4-3 in Vancouver on November 19th in the first game of JT Miller’s 10-game leave of absence. 
Today’s referees: TJ Luxmore & Wes McCauley
Today’s broadcasters: John Shorthouse & Dave Tomlinson
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