The NY Rangers and Carolina Panthers are playing live on Friday night and the game comes after the NHL trade that brought Martin St. Louis to NYC and sent captain Ryan Callahan south to Tampa and the matchup begins at 7 pm ET from PNC Arena for the eastern conference matchup.
The Rangers come into the game after a tough overtime loss against the Toronto Maple Leafs and that was on the same day as the trading deadline on Wednesday and St. Louis ended up playing in the game, finishing with 20 minutes of ice time and he looked strong despite the rush to NYC and his debut at Madison Square Garden on the same day that he was traded. The Rangers did not want to trade Callahan, but they felt that they had no choice if they couldn't sign him to a deal and they didn't want him to leave for nothing as a free agent.
The team now adds a consistent scorer to the lineup and along with his former teammate Brad Richards, the team now has some players that have experienced winning the Stanley Cup. St. Louis comes in at a point averaging nearly a point per game and while sending away Callahan hurts, it also was necessary since the team needs scoring very badly and that is what they have been lacking for years, including when they made it to the conference finals a couple years ago. The team now has a player that was the league leader in scoring last season and he joins a team that is averaging just over two goals per game.
Richards is leading the team in points with 44 and the star is next on the list behind Derek Stepan in assists and Rick Nash is tops in goals and now the team has the chance to bring in another player that can light up the lamp. The Penguins are currently first in the division and the Rangers are in third place just behind the Flyers and they are one up on Columbus and it should be a very tough fight in the division as the end of the season gets closer.
The Rangers next will play against the Detroit Red Wings after losing to the Maple Leafs and playing the Hurricanes and they have a tough schedule down the stretch as well. The team is ranked 19th in goals per game and 11th in power play and penalty kill percentage and they also are ranked 10th in the league in goals against average and they feel the deal with St. Louis can help them make a nice playoff run this season.
