Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the Toronto Maple Leafs (18-16-4, 43 points) and New York Rangers (17-18-2, 36 points) faceoff live from Madison Square Garden in New York City for the first of three meetings against each other this season. The game can be live streamed here. Toronto fans can hear all of the action on TSN 1050 while New York fans can do the same on 98.7 ESPN New York.
Toronto enters play struggling, having won only two games in their last eight tries while New York's franchise-record nine-game homestand hasn't gone as well as planned as the team has posted a 2-4-2 record heading into the final game of it tonight.
The Maple Leafs fell behind early and eventually lost to the Detroit Red Wings 5-4 on Saturday.
"When you allow a team with that much skill and talent to get ahead of you, it's hard to battle back. But I think we showed something tonight by battling back," David Clarkson said via NHL.com. "We've got to be ready from the drop of the puck, be ready to play the way we know we can, the way we did in the second and third."
The Rangers will play for the second consecutive night after besting the Minnesota Wild 4-1 on Sunday.
"In the second period, that was probably our best four-lines, six-D period in a long time. I rolled four lines. Each line was playing very smart and simple. They were doing the right things with the puck," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told NHL.com. "What we need to do now is get ready for Toronto and follow this performance up."
Brad Richards has paced the Rangers with 26 points off of nine goals and 17 assists while Mats Zuccarello is on a three-game point streak and has eight tallies and 17 helpers for 25 points and Derek Stepan has seven markers and 16 assists for 23 points.
Phil Kessel leads the Maple Leafs with 33 points off of 17 goals and 16 assists while James van Riemsdyk has lit the lamp 14 times and added 13 helpers for 27 points and Mason Raymond has found the back of the net 11 times and added 14 assists for 25 points.
In net, New York will go with Cam Talbot for the second consecutive game. Talbot is 7-2-0 with a 1.67 goals-against average and a .936 save percentage. Toronto will likely go with Jonathan Bernier, who is 10-11-3 with a 2.49 GAA and a .927 save percentage this season
The Maple Leafs will look to rediscover their winning ways while New York hopes to end its record homestand on a good note when the puck drops tonight at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
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