Rangers vs. Predators: Lineups, storylines with J.T. Miller sidelined by injury

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Rangers vs. Predators: Lineups, storylines with J.T. Miller sidelined by injury

Rangers vs. Predators: Lineups, storylines with J.T. Miller sidelined by injury — Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Jim Cerny · Forever Blueshirts

Sun, Dec 21, 2025 ·

6 min read

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Coming off a stirring win the night before, the New York Rangers try to avoid a letdown when they visit the Nashville Predators on Sunday night at Bridgestone Arena.

But they must do so without captain J.T. Miller , who sustained an upper-body injury Saturday in their 5-4 shootout win over the Philadelphia Flyers . Miller appeared to hurt his shoulder in a collision with Philly's Nick Seeler at 10:06 of the third period, and didn't return. Coach Mike Sullivan confirmed that Miller didn't make the trip to Nashville and remains back in New York being evaluated by team medical personnel.

Miller's injury takes some of the luster off the latest come-from-behind win for the Rangers (18-15-4). They escaped a 4-2 hole in the third period, spent most of the five-minute overtime on the penalty kill, and then earned the hugely important second point in the shootout. Artemi Panarin scored two goals and another in the shootout after he missed one game with an illness.

That rousing victory followed a 2-1 overtime win in St. Louis against the Blues on Thursday, when Miller scored the winner after Gabe Perreault tied the game in the second period with his first NHL goal. Perreault kept the good vibes going Saturday, assisting on Vincent Trocheck's third-period goal that got New York within 4-3. Mika Zibanejad ultimately forced overtime when he scored a power-play goal in the final minutes of regulation.

The Rangers have points in 10 of their past 14 games (8-4-2), and they seek their third three-game winning streak of the season Sunday. They enter the contest in Music City leading the NHL with 13 road wins, and ranked second with 27 points on the road. New York won four of its past five road games, and this one marks the start of six straight away from Madison Square Garden, bridging the NHL holiday break this coming week.

So far this season, the Rangers are 0-5-1 in the second of back-to-back games. Perhaps there will be a benefit facing a Predators team that's one of four with a League-low 32 points , and also played Saturday.

Luke Evangelista , Steven Stamkos , and Cole Smith scored third-period goals to help the Predators defeat the Toronto Maple Leafs 5-3 in Nashville on Saturday. Since Nov. 26, the Predators won eight of 12 games (8-4-0), after starting the season with a miserable 6-12-4 mark.

The Rangers hope to sweep the season series with a win Sunday. They defeated the Predators 6-3 at MSG on Nov. 10 for their first home victory of the season.

3 storylines when Rangers visit Predators

NHL: New York Rangers at Nashville Predators — Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

Get a Quick win

Jonathan Quick is the Rangers starting goalie Sunday, and seeks his first win since Nov. 7. Of course, Quick missed two weeks with a lower-body injury, but he's winless in his past four starts, as well.

You can't place all the blame on the 39-year-old goalie, though. Quick allowed 10 goals in his past four starts, losing three times in regulation and once in overtime, due in large part to lack of goal support from his teammates. The Rangers were outscored 11-5 in Quick's past four starts, also allowing one empty-netter.

NHL: New York Rangers at Vancouver Canucks — Bob Frid-Imagn Images

Among goalies who've started at least eight games this season, Quick (3-4-1) leads the League with a 1.88 goals-against average and .932 save percentage. He's 7-14-3 all-time against the Predators with a 2.70 GAA, .900 save percentage, and one shutout.

Roll four

Playing their sixth game in nine days, including three decided in overtime, it's fair to say the Rangers are in the midst of a serious grind right now. That's why it behooves them to roll four lines against the Predators, especially without Miller in the lineup.

The fourth line is an afterthought for Sullivan these days, even with Matt Rempe back from injury and Brennan Othman called up from Hartford of the American Hockey League this week. A big reason for this is that the Rangers are too often chasing the game, falling behind on the scoreboard, necessitating more minutes for the top-nine forwards.

Such was the case Saturday, when New York's fourth line played one shift in the third period. In fact, Othmann and Rempe each had just one shift in the final 31:12 of game time, following Othmann's fight with Flyers heavyweight Nic Deslauriers late in the second period. Rempe logged 4:56 TOI; Othmann had 4:51 TOI.

With a tired and depleted lineup, Sullivan's got to find a way to trust the fourth line with more ice time against a mediocre opponent Sunday. Playing with a lead certainly makes that more of an option.

Mika makes mark

It looked and felt like such a throwback moment, when Zibanejad tied the game Saturday with his patented one-timer from the left circles, drawing the Rangers even after escaping a pair of two-goal deficits. He's now the fifth player in Rangers history to score 50 game-tying goals, joining Rod Gilbert, Adam Graves, Andy Bathgate, and Brian Leetch. Pretty nice company Mika keeps.

That power-play goal Saturday was his team-high seventh this season. He now has 115 power-play goals, one shy of tying Camille Henry and his buddy Chris Kreider for most in franchise history. Including his years with the Ottawa Senators , Zibanejad has 127 power-play goals in his career, fifth most among Sweden-born players in NHL history.