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Rangers begin homestand against Panthers

Jan 25, 2011 - 4:21 PM (Sports Network) - The New York Rangers will try to begin a three-game homestand with a third straight victory when they host the Florida Panthers tonight at Madison Square Garden.

The Rangers won the final two games of a recent three-game road trip and ended the swing with Monday's shootout victory over the Washington Capitals. However, New York is 17-9-1 on the road this year compared to a 12-10-2 mark on home ice.

The Blueshirts, who are sixth in the East and two points ahead of Montreal in the conference standings, will play the opener of the homestand tonight before heading into the All-Star break. New York's next game will be Tuesday against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Rangers notched a 2-1 victory over the Capitals on Monday, as Artem Anisimov scored the decisive shootout goal at Verizon Center.

After New York goalie Martin Biron turned away rookie Marcus Johansson to begin the fourth round, Anisimov secured the extra point for the Rangers by beating Washington freshman Braden Holtby with a move to the backhand.

The Blueshirts tied the game on Marian Gaborik's 16th goal of the season at the 13:19 mark of the third period.

"Even though [we] were down going into the third, we just stayed with our game," said Rangers head coach John Tortorella.

Biron made 22 saves for New York, but Henrik Lundqvist is expected to resume his starting role tonight. Lundqvist is 3-2-0 with a pair of shutouts in his last five starts and is 11-5-1 with a 1.77 goals-against average in 17 career outings against Florida.

The Panthers, who are last in the Southeast Division, have lost four straight games, but were dealt their first regulation loss since Jan. 8 in their most recent outing. Florida had a 3-0-3 record in its six games prior to Sunday's 5-2 setback in New Jersey. Ilya Kovalchuk had a goal and two assists to lead the Devils to the easy win.

Shawn Matthias and Marty Reasoner each had a goal for the Panthers, who are 10-13-0 as the guest this season and are playing the second test of a six-game road trip tonight. Cory Stillman added two assists and has two goals and seven helpers during his seven-game point streak.

Scott Clemmensen started in net on Sunday but was pulled after giving up two goals on eight shots in the first period. Jacob Markstrom finished the game and in his NHL debut gave up two goals on 14 shots.

"They've tightened things up as a team over there," said Florida head coach Peter DeBoer. "Their top players have found their game again and we knew coming in that they are a hot team. It showed with the way they played."

Panthers goaltender Tomas Vokoun was unavailable for Sunday's game due to an undisclosed injury. Markstrom, a second-round pick by Florida in 2008, will serve as the backup if Vokoun is unable to go tonight.

Florida defenseman Dmitry Kulikov has sat out the last two games with injured ribs and is questionable for this evening's tilt.

The Panthers and Rangers have split a pair of meetings this season and both of those encounters were staged in Florida. New York had won four straight in the series until Vokoun and the Panthers shut out the Blueshirts, 3-0, on Jan. 2.

Florida has lost four of seven and eight of its last 12 games in the Big Apple.