New York @ Florida preview

Last Meeting ( Nov 10, 2019 ) Florida 6, NY Rangers 5

The New York Rangers look to rebound from an embarrassing loss as they finish a two-game trip to the Sunshine State on Saturday night against the Florida Panthers in the second meeting this week. The Rangers lost to the Panthers on Sunday 6-5 in a shootout during a four-game point streak (3-0-1) that came to an abrupt halt Thursday when they allowed four goals in the first 6:42 of a 9-3 thrashing at Tampa Bay.

“Unacceptable,” New York left wing Chris Kreider told reporters after the dismantling. “It’s demoralizing. But we have another game coming up in a hurry, so shame on us if we don’t learn from it and make up our minds that something like that is never going to happen again.” The Rangers have at least a point in five straight contests (3-0-2) against Florida, which will try to rebound from a 4-3 loss to Winnipeg on Thursday - its third regulation defeat in the last 16 outings - that opened a four-game homestand. The Panthers battled back from deficits twice against the Jets, but gave up three goals in the third period as Joel Quenneville was denied becoming the second NHL coach with 900 career victories. “We weren’t sharp,” Quenneville, who trails only Scotty Bowman (1,244 wins) told reporters. “I didn’t think we had the jump or the possession time that we should have had.”

TV: 7 p.m. ET, MSG 2 (New York), FS Florida

ABOUT THE RANGERS (8-7-2): Rookie right wing Kaapo Kakko, who has five goals in his last seven games, missed Thursday’s contest with the flu and could return along with Jacob Trouba after the defenseman left because of an upper-body injury against Tampa Bay. Left wing Artemi Panarin registered a pair of assists Thursday to extend his point streak to 10 games and leads the team with 21 points along with eight goals. Center Mika Zibanejad (11 points, nine contests) is expected to miss his ninth straight game with an upper-body injury while 20-year-old center Filip Chytil boasts four goals in his past four outings.

ABOUT THE PANTHERS (9-5-5): Center Vincent Trocheck scored twice in Thursday’s loss after managing one in his first 11 games of the season and left wing Mike Hoffman contributed two assists to give him four points in the past three contests. Captain Aleksander Barkov also scored against Winnipeg and boasts six goals to go along with six assists during a seven-game point streak while leading the team with 25 points - one more than left wing Jonathan Huberdeau. Defenseman Keith Yandle set up a pair of goals Thursday to extend his point streak to four contests, in which he has scored once and added six assists.

OVERTIME

1. The Panthers have scored a power-play goal in eight straight games and the Rangers gave up five on eight tries in Tampa Bay on Thursday.

2. New York G Henrik Lundqvist is 26-10-4 with a 2.17 goals-against average and .927 save percentage in 41 career games against the Panthers.

3. Florida C Brian Boyle, a former Ranger, had an assist Thursday and owns six points in 11 games since being signed as a free agent.

PREDICTION: Panthers 4, Rangers 3