News » NEW YORK — In recent weeks

NEW YORK — In recent weeks Nathan MacKinnon Jersey , the New York Rangers and Florida Panthers were playing reasonably well. Then they encountered nightmares in defending Thursday and gave up seven goals on rinks separated by more than 500 miles.While the Rangers were struggling to prevent the rival New York Islanders from scoring in Brooklyn, the Panthers were experiencing the same problems against the Blue Jackets in Columbus.Both teams will be hoping to rebound from difficult games Saturday night when the Rangers host the Panthers.Article continues below ...The teams met Oct. 23 in New York when Mika Zibanejad scored twice and had two assists in a 5-2 Rangers win. Since then, both are decent runs despite the ugly showings Thursday.Since the last meeting, the Rangers are 6-3-2 in their last 11 games and the Panthers are 6-3 in their last nine games.The Rangers gained a point in seven straight games (6-0-1) before absorbing a 7-5 loss to the New York Islanders. The Panthers outscored opponents 19-6 during a five-game winning streak before it crashed to a halt with a 7-3 loss to the Blue Jackets.Besides allowing seven goals, both teams played similar games.The Rangers scored the first two goals in a span of 35 seconds, gave up the next three, tied the game before allowing three more.Florida scored the first goals, allowed the next three, tied it and gave up four in the third period.It was the type of loss that led coach David Quinn to describe his team as being “soft around the net,” especially after allowing three goals via tap-ins.“That’s Hockey 101 Authentic Alexander Wennberg Jersey ,” Quinn said after the Rangers allowed seven goals for the second time this season. “That’s stuff you learn in squirts and peewees and the simple fact was we didn’t pick sticks up.“They just scored way too easily tonight and that’s something that we haven’t been doing, so it’s unfortunate.“Obviously, we got off to a good start and we couldn’t ride the momentum because we just didn’t do the most simplistic of things, which is when you’re standing next to someone, you’ve got to pick their stick up.”Meanwhile in Columbus, Panthers coach Bob Boughner chalked it to up to one of those bad nights.“We just didn’t have it tonight,” Boughner said. “Give Columbus credit, we just didn’t get it done. Like I said, I think that we’re disappointed. We had an opportunity that slipped away a little bit.”Despite the poor defensive showings, both teams have players on decent rolls of late.Chris Kreider scored twice Thursday for the Rangers and six of his team-leading 10 goals are in the last eight games. Kevin Hayes also scored a short-handed goal for the Rangers Los Angeles Kings T-Shirts Womens , giving him two goals and seven assists in the last eight games.Mike Hoffman had an assist Thursday in Columbus and his 14-game points streak broke the team record set by Pavel Bure in 1999-00. Hoffman set up a first-period goal to Aaron Ekblad and has seven goals and nine assists during the run.“It’d be a little better if we could celebrate tonight,” Hoffman said. “But we’ll have to wait for another point for that.”Also, Florida’s offense is performing at its best clip in team history, averaging 3.19 goals per game and converting 23.2 percent of its power plays. The Panthers scored twice on the man advantage Thursday and are 9 of 24 on power plays in the last six games.New York may have a new player in the lineup after obtaining Ryan Strome from Edmonton for Ryan Spooner. Strome was obtained Friday afternoon and it’s possible he may be available Saturday.The Rangers are 12-2-3 in the last 17 meetings with the Panthers. With center Kyle Turris joining a lengthy list of key players on injured reserve before Sunday night’s game with Anaheim, the Nashville Predators needed someone to step up.Enter Austin Watson.In his sixth game since serving an 18-game suspension for domestic violence to open the season, Watson notched the first hat trick of his career to help Nashville maintain its place atop the Central Division and Western Conference with a 5-2 win.Article continues below ...Without Turris, Viktor Arvidsson and perhaps P.K. Subban, the Predators will try to pick up another two points on Tuesday night when they welcome the Colorado Avalanche to Bridgestone Arena for the second of a five-game homestand.Watson and Ryan Hartman split time on the top line against the Ducks with Ryan Johansen and Filip Forsberg. Both provide grit and better skill than some might think, but clearly on Sunday night, Watson had the hot stick.“I think it’s just a matter of getting back on the ice and getting his timing back Sam Reinhart Jersey ,” Nashville coach Peter Laviolette said. “He was in shape when he started but there’s something about the game and the way it moves and getting your game timing down from skating, reading the puck and handling the plays.“We’ve been giving him more opportunity in regards to ice time, penalty kill and defensive zone starts when the game is on the line.”For Watson, who normally plays on third and fourth lines whose roles are to keep opponents from scoring and occasionally create a “dirty” goal, the chance to play with creative players like Johansen and Forsberg was fun.“It’s always nice to score goals and contribute,” Watson said. “As hockey players, that’s what we like doing. It’s a good change to play with Johansen and Forsberg, two gifted players.”The Predators (17-6-1) have won six straight at home, dating back to an Oct. 27 loss to Edmonton, and own a five-point lead on Colorado and Minnesota in the division. They also own an even longer streak over the Avalanche (13-6-4).Nashville has dumped Colorado in 11 straight regular season games Zemgus Girgensons Jersey , a streak that started in the last week of the 2015-16 season. The 11th win occurred on November 7 in Denver, where Colton Sissons notched a hat trick in a 4-1 verdict.Pekka Rinne bagged 24 saves that night and also got help from his team’s video coaches. Two Avalanche goals were waved off via review when replay detected offsides.Colorado is coming off a 3-2 home win Saturday night over Dallas, thanks to Mikko Rantanen’s second game-winner of the season off a rebound with less than two minutes remaining. Rantanen and center Nathan MacKinnon are 1-2 in the NHL in scoring with 38 and 35 points, respectively.Add linemate Gabriel Landeskog’s 26 points to the mix, and you have the top-scoring line in the NHL with 39 goals and 60 assists through 23 games.“They have been consistent all year,” said forward J.T. Compher. “It’s just finding a way to consistently support them. You know what you are going to get out of them every night.”