Stephen Valiquette gets the nod in goal tonight against the Kings, on the second leg of a back-to-back (this thanks to Zipay, who “chimes in from the West Coast”:http://weblogs.newsday.com/sports/hockey/rangers/blog/).

The move makes sense on two fronts: in guarding against wear-and-tear on Henrik Lundqvist, but mostly in preventing the Rangers from coasting against the inferior Kings.

The Rangers are 4-1-1 on the second night of consecutive games, but it would be easy to see this team shifting down a gear a night after outlasting the Ducks. Traditionally having a backup in net helps eliminate the false sense of security.

Don’t forget, 10:30 start tonight.

Update, 6:05 p.m.: The latest on Mats Sundin is “here”:http://www.tsn.ca/nhl/story/?id=259986&lid=headline&lpos=secStory_nhl, although it’s essentially more of what we already knew.