On Jan. 31, the New York Rangers acquired J.T. Miller from the Vancouver Canucks. The deal was intended to help the Canucks change the vibe in their locker room and aid the Rangers in a quest to reach the postseason.

Since then, both teams have produced middling results but will attempt to improve their positioning on Saturday afternoon following a pregame ceremony to honor retiring New York television play-by-play announcer Sam Rosen.

Miller has seven goals and 11 assists in the first 20 games of his second stint with the Rangers. He scored all his goals in an 11-game span between Feb. 1 and March 3 as New York went 7-4-0, but he has not scored in nine games and the Rangers (33-31-6, 72 points) are 2-5-2 since his last goal.

New York is on a five-game home losing streak (0-4-1) and 2-6-1 in its past nine home games after never leading in Thursday's 4-3 loss to the Toronto Maple Leafs. While their effort was improved from Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames when they mustered 13 shots on goal, the Rangers conceded three goals in the second period.

Artemi Panarin scored and added an assist, giving him eight goals and 16 points in an 11-game points streak. The Rangers, however, gave up goals following defensive miscues after coach Peter Laviolette put defenseman Adam Fox with former Canuck Carson Soucy while also rotating his defensive pairings.

"We knew how big the game was and just weren't able to find a way," New York center Sam Carrick said. "(But) there's still a lot of belief in this room that we can, we can find a way here to squeak in and that's not changing."

The Rangers enter their final 12 games two points behind the Montreal Canadiens for the final wild-card spot. Montreal has two games in hand along with the New York Islanders, who also have 72 points.

Vancouver (32-25-12, 76 points) acquired Filip Chytil in the Miller trade but he will not play due to a concussion from a hit by Jason Dickinson in last Saturday's game against the Chicago Blackhawks.

While the Canucks are a pedestrian 9-8-2 in 19 games since the swap, they are 5-3-1 in their past nine games. Elias Pettersson, who reportedly clashed with Miller, has four goals and 13 points since the deal and is on a six-game points streak.

Pettersson set up the tying goal by Brock Boeser with four seconds left in regulation before the Canucks started a six-game road trip with a 4-3 overtime loss to the St. Louis Blues on Thursday.

Boeser scored twice Thursday for his second straight multi-goal game after mustering three assists in a 12-game goalless drought. His effort occurred two nights after the Canucks rolled to a 6-2 win over the Winnipeg Jets but Vancouver's follow-up performance produced 18 shots on goal, marking the 10th time it was held under 20 shots.

"(Great) resiliency and character to come back," Vancouver's Kiefer Sherwood said. "We've still got to figure out our overtimes obviously, but we're still looking for 60 minutes. When we put our foot on the gas, we showed what we can do like the other night against Winnipeg. It wasn't enough tonight. But it was good character and grit to tie it up. We've got to be better for a full 60."

--Field Level Media

Quickchart Matchup

Vancouver Off vs  NY Rangers Def

2.78 GF 3 GA 25.2 Shots 30 Shots 43 PP 37 PK

NY Rangers Off vs  Vancouver Def

2.96 GF 3.01 GA 28.6 Shots 26.7 Shots 33 PP 33 PK