Florida @ New York preview

Last Meeting ( Dec 8, 2018 ) NY Rangers 5, Florida 4

The New York Rangers have hit their best stride without impact player Mika Zibanejad in the lineup and they'll go without him again Sunday against the visiting Florida Panthers. The Rangers have won four of their last five games without Zibanejad, who will miss his sixth straight contest Sunday because of a neck injury after totaling four goals and 11 points in nine games.

New York's success has been veteran driven with big-ticket free agent acquisition Artemi Panarin leading the team with eight goals and 16 points, and 37-year-old goaltender Henrik Lundqvist in top form of late. The Rangers, though, are also succeeding while going through growing pains with 18-year-old right wing Kaapo Kakko (three goals, team-worst minus-10) leading a youth movement that includes defensemen Adam Fox, 21, and Tony DeAngelo, 24. Florida is coming off a 2-1 loss at the New York Islanders on Saturday afternoon - its second straight setback (0-1-1) following a 5-1-1 stretch. Aleksander Barkov scored in his fourth straight game after going 12 contests without a goal to start the season.

TV: 1 p.m. ET, NHL Network; FS Florida, MSG (New York)

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (7-4-5): Barkov and Jonathan Huberdeau (team-high nine goals) pace the club with 20 points apiece after Huberdeau recorded an assist Saturday, giving him four goals and seven points in his last four games. Keith Yandle recorded the other assist Saturday in his 813th consecutive game - the longest active streak in the NHL and fifth-longest in history. Sam Montembeault (1-1-1, 2.81 goals-against average, .905 save percentage) is expected to play Sunday after Sergei Bobrovsky made 34 saves versus the Islanders.

ABOUT THE RANGERS (7-6-1): Panarin is working on a seven-game point streak (four goals, six assists) while Pavel Buchnevich recorded two assists in each of his last two games. Lundqvist (4-3-0, 3.03, .922) allowed a total of three goals in winning both games of a back-to-back, including a 45-save masterpiece in Thursday's 4-2 victory at Carolina. DeAngelo (five goals, minus-5) and Fox (two goals, plus-2) are the club's only defenseman with more than one score.

OVERTIME

1. New York D Marc Staal on Friday had surgery on his infected ankle and will be re-evaluated in two weeks.

2. Florida has scored with an extra man in five straight games while the Rangers are 4-for-9 on the power play in their last three contests.

3. New York swept last season's three-game series by a combined 14-8 with Lundqvist winning twice.

PREDICTION: Rangers 3, Panthers 2