has picked up at least one point in his last six games against New Jersey.Roman Josi appeared to double Nashville’s lead at 11:34 of the second on a power play. New Jersey challenged the goal for goalte

NEW YORK — The Nashville Predators are widely considered one of the teams likeliest to contend for the Stanley Cup this season. The New York Rangers are … not.But the Rangers will get an early opportunity to prove the prognosticators wrong Thursday night when they host the Predators in the season opener for both teams at Madison Square Garden.The Rangers embarked upon a rebuilding project late last season Womens Jared Spurgeon Jersey , finishing 34-39-9 and in last place in the Metropolitan Division. New York shipped off several veterans at the trade deadline, including Rick Nash and captain Ryan McDonagh.Article continues below ...Immediately after the season, the Rangers fired head coach Alain Vigneault, who directed the team to playoff berths in his first four seasons at the helm and steered them to the Stanley Cup Finals in his first campaign in 2013-14. Vigneault’s successor is David Quinn, who arrived from Boston University to oversee the type of youth movement rarely undertaken in the Big Apple. But Quinn is not ready to concede the season, even though the Rangers’ uphill task is made taller by their placement in the Metropolitan Division — home of the Washington Capitals and Pittsburgh Penguins, who combined to win the last three Stanley Cups.“Obviously, a lot has been made of the different direction we’re in right now, but we want to win every game,” Quinn told reporters. “I don’t think about it any other way, I think about coming here every day, being the best team we can be, making every guy a better player Jason Zucker Jersey , making us a better team, collectively, and playing the way we want to play.“And the winning and losing will take care of itself. And we feel we have enough good NHL players to give us a chance night in and night out.”There’s little doubt the Predators have the players to compete for a title. Nashville, which reached its first Cup Finals following the 2016-17 season, led the NHL with 117 points last season (53-18-11) but fell to the Winnipeg Jets in a seven-game Western Conference semifinal series.Head coach Peter Laviolette, who has put together a Hall of Fame resume by leading three franchises to the Cup Finals (he won the Cup with Carolina in 2005-06 and coached Philadelphia to the title round in 2009-10), is aware of the expectations surrounding the Predators and is eager to begin finding out just how good his team can become.“It’s the beginning of a journey for our group, and you hope to play a long time and find success all the way through,” Laviolette told reporters. “That brings excitement to the guys that get sick of practices and training camp. They want to play games, and New York is a great place for us to start.”Two franchise icons are expected to start the game in goal for New York and Nashville.Henrik Lundqvist is scheduled to set a franchise record by starting his 13th straight season opener for the Rangers. Lundqvist, who enters this year ranked within the NHL’s top 15 all-time in wins, games and saves, is 8-5-0 in 13 games against the Predators.Reigning Vezina Trophy winner Pekka Rinne Joel Eriksson Ek Jersey , who has spent his entire 12-year career with the Predators, will draw the start. Rinne, whose Vezina Trophy last year was his first, is 3-2-1 in six games against the Rangers. NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Ryan Johansen hasn’t been happy with his performance in shootouts, so he was thrilled one went in Saturday night.Johansen got the winning goal in the sixth round of the shootout to lift the Nashville Predators to a 2-1 victory over the New Jersey Devils.Johansen took a slow approach before slipping a quick wrist shot past Devils goalie Keith Kinkaid. Prior to that, Johansen had converted just one of nine shootout attempts in his time with Nashville.“I’ve been struggling for a long time,” Johansen said. “I was hot there for a while early in my career, and (since) then I’ve been struggling big time. Just kind of the basics for me. It was really nice to get one in there.”Frederick Gaudreau scored in regulation and Juuse Saros made 33 saves through overtime to help the Predators win their third straight. Saros earned his first win since Nov. 10.“It feels good,” Saros said. “It was a nice game from a goalie’s standpoint. I saw a lot of pucks and a lot of shots from outside, so I felt good.”Brian Boyle scored for the Devils and Keith Kinkaid made 27 saves. New Jersey, which rallied for an overtime win at home against Vegas on Friday night, lost for the third time in four games.“We don’t feel like we stole a point Authentic Marcus Johansson Jersey , we feel like we didn’t get the second one and that’s the difference,” New Jersey coach John Hynes said. “Sometimes you can get outplayed and steal a point. Tonight we didn’t steal a point. tonight we didn’t get the second one.”Kyle Palmieri scored in the first round of the tiebreaker for New Jersey, and Ryan Ellis got one for Nashville in the second round.With 1:31 remaining in the third, Boyle fired a rebound of Marcus Johansson’s shot past Saros to send it to overtime. The Devils had lifted Kinkaid for an extra attacker less than a minute prior to Boyle’s goal.“It’s one of the best teams in the league and I thought we certainly could have come out with two points,” Devils forward Blake Coleman said. “I thought we deserved better. If we deserve two points every night, they are going to start to come.”Gaudreau scored the game’s first goal with 1:17 left in the opening period. Miikka Salomaki’s shot from the left circle was kicked away by Kinkaid, but the rebound landed right on Gaudreau’s stick, and he converted into the open net for his second.Mattias Ekholm picked up the secondary assist on the goal, extending his point scoring streak to four games. Ekholm has picked up at least one point in his last six games against New Jersey.Roman Josi appeared to double Nashville’s lead at 11:34 of the second on a power play. New Jersey challenged the goal for goaltender interference and the video review determined that Nashville’s Colton Sissons did impede Kinkaid’s attempt to make the save.Nashville has not scored on the power play in its last five games.NOTES: The Predators are 10-0-0 against Eastern Conference opponents on the season. Nashville concludes its pre-Christmas break schedule with four road games, three against teams from the East. … Saros is 3-0-1 in four career games played against the Devils. … New Jersey LW Taylor Hall missed his second consecutive game with a lower-body injury. … The Devils had won their previous three games played in Nashville. … Sissons’ career-best four game point scoring streak ended. … Nashville is 17-1-0 when scoring first this season.UP NEXTDevils: Host Toronto on Tuesday night.Predators: Att Ottawa on Monday night.