Here are today’s news and links:

Rangers News:

• Mollie Walker highlights how Julien Gauthier is taking advantage of the opportunity presented to him by Sammy Blais’ benching (NY Post)
• Larry Brooks offers his thoughts on the Blueshirts as the league wide holiday break officially began after last night’s games (NY Post)
• Colin Stephenson notes that New York’s recent stretch of wins has the team back in playoff position and has created strong vibes around the locker room (Newsday)
• Tom Castro makes the case for the Rangers to move on from Blais sooner rather than later (The Hockey Writers)
• Scott Blair draws some similarities between the Detroit Red Wings of the 1990s and the present day Blueshirts (The Hockey Writers)/

Around the NHL:

• Luke Fox discusses Alexander Ovechkin’s chase to break the all-time goal record and how the forbidden mix of sports and politics tend to clash when Ovechkin is the subject (Sportsnet)
• Minnesota Wild forward Mason Shaw has been suspended two games for kneeing San Jose Sharks’ forward Evgeny Svechnikov (TSN)/