Rangers at Red Wings preview

RANGERS (20-13-4) at RED WINGS (13-16-7)
7:30 p.m. ET; FS-D, MSG, NHL.TV

Lundqvist has 422 wins in 773 games, one behind Esposito, who finished his Hall of Fame career with 423 wins in 886 games.
It will be the Rangers' final game before they play the Buffalo Sabres in the 2018 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on Monday (1 p.m. ET; NBC, SN, TVA Sports, NHL.TV).
The Red Wings will try to end a three-game losing streak (0-3-0) as they begin a five-game homestand.

Players to watch

Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad has gone six games without a point but scored in the shootout in a 1-0 win against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday.
Red Wings forward Dylan Larkin has six assists in the past four games, including three in a 6-3 win against the New York Islanders on Dec. 19.

They said it

"This is the best Christmas present. I'm just going to do what I was doing in Hartford, shooting the puck and digging." -- Rangers forward Vinni Lettieri, who will make his NHL debut
"We need to score more goals, but that won't be easy tonight. [Rangers goaltender Henrik] Lundqvist and [Red Wings goaltender] Jimmy [Howard] always seem to play great against each other." -- Red Wings forward Tomas Tatar

Rangers projected lineup

Rick Nash -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner -- Kevin Hayes -- J.T. Miller
Pavel Buchnevich -- David Desharnais -- Jimmy Vesey
Paul Carey -- Boo Nieves --
Vinni Lettieri
Ryan McDonagh -- Nick Holden
Brady Skjei -- Marc Staal
Brendan Smith -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Scratched:Steven Kampfer
Injured:Jesper Fast (quad strain), Chris Kreider (blood clot)

Red Wings projected lineup

Anthony Mantha -- Dylan Larkin -- Tomas Tatar
Tyler Bertuzzi
-- Henrik Zetterberg -- Gustav Nyquist
Justin Abdelkader -- Frans Nielsen -- Darren Helm
David Booth -- Martin Frk -- Andreas Athanasiou
Danny DeKeyser -- Mike Green
Jonathan Ericsson -- Trevor Daley
Niklas Kronwall -- Nick Jensen
Jimmy Howard
Petr Mrazek
Scratched: Xavier Ouellet](https://www.nhl.com/player/xavier-ouellet-8476443?season=20172018), Luke Witkowski
Injured:Luke Glendening (hand)

Status report

The Rangers announced Thursday that Kreider is out indefinitely because of a blood clot in his right arm. Lettieri was recalled from Hartford of the American Hockey League the same day. … Mantha could be a game-time decision because of an undisclosed injury. He leads the Red Wings with 13 goals. Bertuzzi, who got his first NHL point with an assist in a 3-1 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Wednesday, was moved to Zetterberg's line.

Stat pack

Zuccarello has nine points (four goals, five assists) in his past 11 games, and scored in the shootout against the Capitals. … Zetterberg has eight points (one goal, seven assists) in his past seven games.