Henrik Lundqvist will make his eighth consecutive start Friday night at the Garden, when the Rangers (49-21-7, 105 points) host the Montreal Canadiens (29-34-14, 72 points) looking to strengthen their already favorable positioning for the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference.
 
Thanks to the Islanders’ second straight win over the Penguins on Thursday night, the Blueshirts’ magic number to clinch the top seed and home ice through the conference finals is five.
 
That’s because if the Penguins (100 points) were to win all five remaining games, they would finish with 110 points. If the Rangers earn five points in their five remaining games, that would give them 110, as well, and the Blueshirts own the first tiebreaker against Pittsburgh.
 
The first tiebreaker is a team’s total Regulation plus Overtime Wins (ROW), or non-shootout wins, and the Rangers’ ROW is 45, while the Penguins have just 38.

CAPTAIN KNOWS SPECIAL TEAMS CRUCIAL TO PLAYOFF RUN
 
As the Rangers try to lock down the top seed, they will play both the Penguins and the Flyers (98 points) next week as their Atlantic Division foes try to make up ground.
 
In fact, here is the remaining regular season schedule:
 
Friday: vs. Canadiens (7:30 p.m., MSG Plus)
Sunday: vs. Bruins (7 p.m., NBCSN)
Tuesday: @ Flyers (7 p.m., MSG 2)
Thursday: @ Penguins (7 p.m., NBCSN, MSG 2)
Saturday: vs. Capitals (6:30 p.m., NBCSN)
 

ST. PAUL, Minn. – Rangers defenseman Steve Eminger skated at Xcel Energy Center Tuesday morning. Well, sort of.
 
“I don’t know if I’d call it skating,” Eminger said. “More like a twirl.”
 
Whatever he calls it, Eminger was on the ice in Greenburgh for about 10 minutes on Monday, then he went on his second “twirl” for 15-to-20 minutes in Minnesota on Tuesday morning.
 
The 28-year-old revealed his mystery injury to be a right ankle sprain, sustained in a 5-2 loss to the Penguins on March 15 at the Garden. Eminger said on the Penguins’ third goal, scored by Matt Cooke 2:31 into the second period, Pens center Jordan Staal fell awkwardly onto Eminger’s ankle.
 
The injury was not obvious because Eminger played 23 more seconds off the ensuing faceoff, then took 11 more shifts and finished with 15:46 of ice time, including 5:28 in the third period. But after that game Eminger disappeared from practices, with the team saying only that he was injured but no clear idea of what had gone wrong.
 
“I’m just taking it slow,” Eminger explained. “I can’t rush it. This injury doesn’t allow you to press it. If you’re not strong enough, you’ll put yourself in bad situations and hurt yourself more.”

WILD REUNION FOR GABORIK
 
Playing on a one-year, $800,000 contract, Eminger started the Rangers’ first 30 games until he separated his right shoulder on Dec. 17 in Phoenix on a hit by Coyotes forward Martin Hanzal. Prior to the injury, Eminger had been serving as a solid second-pair defenseman alongside Michael Del Zotto.
 

ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Rangers announced Monday morning that they have agreed to terms on a contract with forward Andrew Yogan, 20, the team’s 100^th overall choice in the fourth round of the 2010 NHL entry draft.
 
Capgeek.com’s unofficial numbers call the contract a two-way deal with an annual cap hit of $655,000. The contract kicks in next season and expires when Yogan becomes a restricted free agent following the 2014-15 season.
 
Yogan, a 6-3, 201-pound left-handed shot, posted 41 goals and 37 assists in 66 games this season with the Peterborough Petes of the Ontario Hockey League (OHL). He then joined the AHL’s Connecticut Whale last Wednesday on an amateur tryout (ATO).
 
Last season, he made his professional debut with the Whale, scoring two goals and an assist in two games. Yogan scored both goals in his AHL debut on April 9, 2011 against Bridgeport.
 
When the Rangers drafted him in 2010, Yogan became the first player born and raised in the state of Florida to be drafted by an NHL team.
 
It is unlikely that Yogan will play with the Rangers this season, but 2009 first-round pick Chris Kreider could, once his Boston College Eagles are eliminated from the NCAA’s Frozen Four.
 
Kreider and the Eagles still must face Minnesota on April 5 in the semifinals, though, and then could appear in the April 7 NCAA Final before the 6-3, 217-pound left winger is expected to sign.
 
There is no guarantee Kreider’s anticipated signing will result in his making an immediate impact at the NHL level, but the Rangers are extremely high on the 20-year-old, refusing to consider any trade deadline deal with the Columbus Blue Jackets that included him this past February.
 

TORONTO – Ryan McDonagh was not able to reflect positively on his active offensive role in Friday night’s 4-1 loss to the Sabres because, well, the Rangers defenseman didn’t score.
 
“I’m trying to score, I’m trying to take that next step, I’m trying to create, but it doesn’t mean anything if you can’t finish,” said McDonagh, who cut through the Sabres on several jumps up ice and put three shots on net, but none that got past goalie Ryan Miller. “I’ve got to start making one more play to get an open guy the puck or get it on net and put it through the goalie. I’ve got to take that next step.”
 
Entering Saturday night’s game against the Maple Leafs at Air Canada Centre, McDonagh had not scored in the past 19 games and Dan Girardi was the only Blueshirts defenseman with a goal in the past 15. But those numbers are more glaring because of the Rangers’ recent inability to score as a team.
 
The Blueshirts have been outscored 32-to-23 in the past 10 games, with a 4-6-0 record in that span. They are at a 15-to-10 disadvantage in the past five, averaging just two goals per game, while posting a 2-3-0 record to conclude their seven-game homestand following wins over the Islanders and Hurricanes.
 
“We need to be better,” Brian Boyle said after scoring the only goal, and just his seventh of the season, in Friday’s loss to Buffalo. “We can’t play like that against any team in this league.”