Believe it or not, the New York Rangers play a hockey game later tonight. For the first time since Jan. 27, they’ll return to the Garden ice to host the Colorado Avalanche.

Although they’ve played 49 games, the second half of the season begins in February. Following the All-Star break, it’s a chance for the Rangers to restore order. They struggled in January by posting a 5-6-2 record.

Hopefully, they can build upon a 7-2 win over the Ottawa Senators. If they want to hang onto first place in the Metropolitan Division, they’ll have to play better hockey. With a two-point lead on the Carolina Hurricanes, the Rangers will immediately be tested this week. After taking on the high-powered Avalanche, they’ll face the Tampa Bay Lightning on Wednesday, Feb. 7.

Going up against the top two Hart candidates at home should present an immediate challenge. First up is Nathan MacKinnon. The Avs’ star center has 31 goals and 53 assists for 84 points. That includes a 13-game point streak. Over that span, he’s tallied 12 goals and 16 assists for 28 points. Dating back to Nov. 20, he’s only been held off the score sheet once.

It’ll be a tall order for the Rangers, who’ll play without Jacob Trouba, who’s serving the remainder of a two-game suspension for elbowing the Golden Knights’ Pavel Dorofeyev on Jan. 26.

That means Rangers coach Peter Laviolette could tinker with his defense. He was interested in taking a look at Ryan Lindgren with Braden Schneider on the third pair. However, that’ll have to wait until Trouba returns in two days. It’ll be interesting to see who K’Andre Miller pairs with tonight. He’s struggled over the past month. Too many unforced mistakes have led to goals against. It could be that he works with Schneider. Unless Erik Gustafsson draws the assignment.

Connor Mackey was recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack. He gave a good account in the win over Ottawa. It was his clean hit on Tim Stutzle that led to Brady Tkachuk obliging him in a fight. At the moment, the Rangers trailed 2-0. They responded by scoring seven unanswered goals to get a much needed victory.

Related: Rangers Enter The Break With A Win Over Senators

With Zac Jones also having a good game by notching a goal and an assist versus the Senators, he’ll be in the lineup. Jones usually works with Schneider when he’s inserted into the lineup. It’ll depend on what Laviolette prefers.

The Rangers normally like to use the checking line to match up against opponents’ top scoring lines. If Laviolette opts for that matchup, it’ll be up to Barclay Goodrow, Jimmy Vesey, and Tyler Pitlick to handle the Avs’ potent first line that features MacKinnon, Mikko Rantanen, and Jonathan Drouin. Even without Val Nichushkin (NHL Player Assistance Program), the Avalanche remains an explosive team.

While MacKinnon and Rantanen do the heavy lifting along with former Norris winner Cale Makar, they’ve gotten strong support from Drouin, Ross Colton, Logan O’Connor, Miles Wood, and Devon Toews. Ryan Johansen hasn’t been too good. Former Devil Zach Parise is expected to make his Avalanche debut.

If the first line that features Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider can get untracked, you can make the case that the Rangers should be able to match the Avalanche. Zibanejad will have Blake Wheeler on the right side. Wheeler had goals in consecutive games prior to the break. For the season, he has nine goals with 11 assists for 20 points. While that’s not anything substantial, he’s been a better fit on the top line.

Kaapo Kakko, who scored goals in two straight games, will remain on the third line with Jonny Brodzinski and Will Cuylle. The Rangers are hoping Kakko can build on it. In 28 games, he has five goals. If he can provide more offense, that would help improve the Rangers’ scoring depth.

The second line remains intact. It’s been mostly Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck scoring and setting up the big goals at five-on-five. Alexis Lafreniere broke a six-game scoring drought with his 12th goal of the season in the come from behind win over the Senators. Lafreniere has to find more consistency. He’s on that big line for a reason.

With most of the focus on MacKinnon, Laviolette has decided to start Jonathan Quick tonight. Quick has had a good season – winning 10 games while posting a 2.43 goals-against-average (GAA) and .915 save percentage. He brings a 20-8-2 career record with a 2.31 GAA and .913 save percentage versus the Avalanche. We’ll see if he’s up to the challenge.

By playing Quick tonight, Laviolette will save Igor Shesterkin for the Lightning on Wednesday. He’ll have to contend with Nikita Kucherov. The league’s leading scorer. His 32 goals and 53 assists for 85 points are one ahead of Mackinnon.

Both games are 7 EST. If they want to change the perception around the league, the Rangers must answer the bell starting later.