When the New York Rangers host the Minnesota Wild tonight, they’ll get defenseman Carson Soucy back. He’s set to return after missing the last four games.

By activating Soucy off the injured reserve, the Rangers assigned Scott Morrow to the Hartford Wolf Pack. He was an emergency recall just in case Will Borgen couldn’t play. Borgen was fine in the Rangers’ last two games at Toronto and Montreal.

Rather than put Soucy back with Borgen, as they started the season, Rangers coach Mike Sullivan has instead decided to have Soucy team with Braden Schneider on the third pair. In doing so, Urho Vaakanainen comes out of the lineup tonight.

Sullivan’s liked what he’s seen from rookie defenseman Matthew Robertson. A strong defensive player, Robertson has impressed the coaching staff enough to remain in the lineup. He filled in well playing for Soucy with Borgen on the number two pair. That’s where he’ll stay for Monday’s game against the Wild.

The 24-year-old defenseman has played four games and picked up his first career point in the 4-3 win over the Canadiens on Saturday night. Robertson scored his first goal to put the Rangers ahead for good in a superb third period that saw them score three times to improve to 3-0-1 on the road.

Blueshirts Still Searching for Offense at Home

The Blueshirts enter tonight’s match, still searching for offense at home. They have yet to score a goal in three games at Madison Square Garden.

By getting shut out by the Edmonton Oilers on Oct. 16, the Rangers became the first team in NHL history to start a season without scoring a goal in their first three home games. If they fail to score in the first 7:19 tonight, they’ll break the 1928 Pittsburgh Pirates’ record for the longest scoring drought at home to begin a new season.

When asked about whether he’s using it as motivation for the team, Sullivan made sure to point out that they’ve played a lot of good hockey.

“No, I think it’s such a small sample size at this point. We’re just going to take each game as it comes. We’re going to try to put our best game on the ice. I think the group should feel good about themselves with the experience that we just went through in Montreal. We acknowledge that we’ve played a lot of good hockey, we got to continue to stay hungry and not be satisfied.”

Considering everything, with Vincent Trocheck still not skating, the Rangers have started out well. Their 3-3-1 record could easily be better. With a solid structure that’s defended well while generating enough scoring chances, the goals will come if they continue that trend.

They’ve gotten a strong start from Sam Carrick, whose three assists are tied for second on the team with Adam Fox. Carrick has skated well and has been able to create offense in transition for his line. If he had better luck finishing, he’d have a couple of goals.

Carrick has been a big part of the ninth ranked penalty killing unit. They gave up a power-play goal in the last two games. However, they’ve killed off 12 of 14 penalties for an 85.71 success rate with one shorthanded goal coming from Mika Zibanejad.

The power play is still looking for improvement, ranking 22nd with the New York Islanders. With a Zibanejad power-play goal on Saturday and J.T. Miller scoring just as a man-advantage expired, they’ll look to build upon it. They’re 3-for-19 (15.8 percent).

Rangers Honor The Past Tonight

Tonight is the first of a series that’ll honor the Rangers Centennial season. They’ll celebrate the birth of a franchise from a century ago.

The Blue Crew was handing out the Centennial Chronicle newspapers at different locations, including Grand Central, Penn Station, and World Trade Center Path.

Why not give the cool throwback headlines away to fans at the game?