Penguins (14-9-1) vs. Rangers (10-10-3)
PPG Paints Arena | Pittsburgh, PA
Tuesday, March 9 | 6:00PM Eastern
NBCSN | MSG | AT&T-PGH
The Penguins play host to the Rangers on the back end of a doubleheader Tuesday night at PPG. They used a 3-goal tantrum in the first period to cover up an early goal from Mika Zibanejad before coasting to a 5-1 win on Sunday night. NOTE THE 6PM START TIME! (This is for you, reader, as well as for the Penguins and their notoriously slow starts, as well.)
The Penguins’ three goal torrent spanned 61 seconds, and seemed reminiscent of … well… three days prior.
The #Pens three goals scored in 1:11 against the Flyers on Thursday were the fastest scored by any team this season, at the time.
Today, the Penguins scored three in 1:01.
— Wes Crosby (@OtherNHLCrosby) March 8, 2021
The Penguins waived Colton Sceviour, who was on the COVID-19 list since Saturday. Update: Sceviour was removed from the COVID-19 list, and has cleared waivers, so he will be eligible to play tonight.
Jared McCann, who’s been hot in his return to the lineup alongside a revitalized Evgeni Malkin, didn’t take a shift in the third period after taking a hard hit late in the second frame. Update:
Coach Sullivan on McCann's status: "Jared will be out for tonight's game with an upper-body injury. Right now, his status is day-to-day."
— Pens Inside Scoop (@PensInsideScoop) March 9, 2021
Mark Friedman was placed on Injured Reserve, with Anthony Angello, Josh Currie, Josh Maniscalco, Maxime Lagace, Emil Larmi, and Freddy Gaudreau sent to the taxi squad.
The Penguins are 4-1-0 against the Blue Shirts, posting 18 goals (3.6 per) and allowing 13 against (2.6 per).
Zach Aston-Reese started his season with a 4-game point streak, and after a 7-game point drought, he’s recorded goals in each of the past two. Evgeni Malkin has also posted markers in each of the past two as he begins to round into form. Noncoincidentally, he is looking more and more comfortable with Kasperi Kapanen.
Through Malkin’s first 14 games, he posted just 3G and 4A. In the past 10, he’s got 3G and 8A, including back-to-back multi-point games for the first time this year. Malkin looks to extend his own 4-game point streak to a season high 5.
Also, check out this awesome piece on Emily Pfalzer Matheson from Michelle Crechiolo.
Forwards
Guentzel – Crosby – Rust
Rodrigues – Malkin – Kapanen
Aston-Reese – Blueger – Tanev
O’Connor – Jankowski – Sceviour
Defense
Dumoulin – Letang
Matheson – Ceci
Pettersson – Marino
In Net
Jarry
The Rangers got a goal from Mike Zibanejad just 1:18 into the game, the coffers ran dry. The Rangers have scored early in each of their past two games, with Pavel Buchnevich opening the scoring 28 ticks in against Buffalo in their previous game before Sunday’s loss to the Penguins.
Artemi Panarin continues to handle personal issues and has stepped away from hockey. The Rangers certainly miss last year’s third-place vote-getter for the Hart Trophy, though their record doesn’t necessarily reflect it. The Blueshirts are 4-3-0 without Panarin, though some of that may be the silver lining of taking 3 of 4 from New Jersey and Buffalo, the only two teams behind them in the stacked MassMutual East Division standings.
Alexandar Georgiev was chased in the first period after the Penguins’ blitzkrieg of goals. With Igor Shesterkin nursing a mild groin strain, it’s likely Georgiev gets a shot at revenge tonight. UPDATE:
Confirmed: Kinkaid starting tonight. #NYR
— Vince Z. Mercogliano (@vzmercogliano) March 9, 2021
Forwards
Lafreniere – Zibanejad – Buchnevich
Kreider – Strome – Kaako
Rooney – Chytil – Gauthier
Lemieux – Howden – Di Giuseppe
Defense
Lindgren – Fox
Miller – Trouba
Hajek – Smith
In Net
Kinkaid
ICE Cold Fact: pic.twitter.com/CTrrW44uLI
— ICE T (@FINALLEVEL) March 9, 2021
Go Pens.
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