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Rangers aim to rebound against Oilers

(SportsNetwork.com) - Rather than worry about who is chasing them in the Eastern Conference standings, the New York Rangers are more concerned about just taking care of their own business on the ice.

The Rangers will try to do just that on Sunday night as they continue a four- game western road trip with a matchup against the Edmonton Oilers.

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New York hit the road having won five straight, including a big regulation victory over the rival Philadelphia Flyers on Wednesday, but were bested 4-3 by the spoiler-happy Calgary Flames.

Brian Boyle, Raphael Diaz and Brad Richards scored in a second-period burst for the Rangers, but Henrik Lundqvist stopped just 24-of-28 shots faced.

The setback allowed the Flyers to pull within a point of the Rangers for second place in the Metropolitan Division as Philadelphia topped the Toronto Maple Leafs on Friday. The Flyers have two games in hand over the Rangers and host the Boston Bruins earlier on Sunday.

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Rangers like Richards likely won't be scoreboard watching though.

"If it's not Philly, it's probably some other team," Richards said. "There's a bunch of teams around us. We just want our two points. We do control our own destiny, and we want to do it, but that's the disappointing thing. We aren't worried about Philly right now."

Edmonton is another team looking to play spoiler and snapped a three-game slide with Friday's 4-3 overtime win against the Anaheim Ducks, with Andrew Ference scoring with 1:09 left on the clock.

Edmonton had taken two penalties earlier in the overtime, leading to a brief 5-on-3 for Anaheim, but the Ducks took a whistle and the teams wound up skating 3-on-3.

With a lot of ice to work with, Ference grabbed the puck in the neutral zone and skated down the middle, winding up for a big blast that ticked off the right post and in.

"It was that 3-on-3 mode still so just a lot of ice that was just sitting there in the middle," said Ference. "I wasn't about to try anything too fancy so I just kind of old school, stepped up and whacked it."

Sam Gagner scored his 100th career goal and rookie defenseman Oscar Klefbom netted his first, while Jordan Eberle also tallied for the Oilers. Ben Scrivens made 48 saves as Edmonton moved to 2-3-0 on a six-game homestand.

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Forwards Tyler Pitlick and Ryan Jones both suffered knee injuries versus the Ducks, and while Pitlick may not miss any time, Jones is out for the season with a torn PCL.

Edmonton forward Nail Yakupov also remains out with an ankle issue.

Scrivens is 2-0-0 with a 0.50 GAA in his career versus the Rangers, making 35 saves in a 2-1 victory in New York on Feb. 6. That was the first of two meetings between the clubs this season and Edmonton has won four of the last six in this matchup overall.

The Oilers, who have won three of the past four played at home in this series, got goals from Yakupov and Ryan Smyth in the one-goal victory, while Rangers backup netminder Cam Talbot finished with 29 saves.

Talbot is expected to get the start tonight.

[SportsNetwork.com]

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