PITTSBURGH (46-19-11) VS NEW YORK (46-26-5)
MADISON SQUARE GARDEN. NEW YORK, NY.
7:00 PM EST. ROOT SPORTS
I have great news everyone, the Penguins are participating in their last game of the freaking month finally. At the beginning of this month we talked about how the team had 16 games in 31 days and at the time they were only missing Kris Letang, Trevor Daley, and Olli Maatta. They are still missing Letang, Daley, and Maatta plus everyone else. At the beginning of the month we said that a 10-6 record without 3 of the top 6 defenders out would be a success. The Penguins are 8-4-3 so far this month, achieving 19 points, one shy of the 20 points our 10-6 record projected, so our hands are tied from complaining about this team. There’s also the small fact that the Penguins are in the playoffs and could lose the remaining games of their season 7-0 and they would still be playing into April. There’s also the window that comes with winning a championship, some teams don’t even make it back to the playoffs following a cup win let alone look as dominant as the Penguins have at times this season, so as fans we truly have nothing to complain about.
So what about the Rangers? New York has quietly built a strong season after a shaky start and clinched a playoff berth last night. The Rangers are one of those teams that should be scary in the first round because they have flown under the radar in the Metro. When the division “heavyweights” are all sitting at 103+ points the Rangers are easily overlooked because they don’t have 100 points, but their 97 points puts them on top of 2 of the other 3 divisions. Currently the Rangers are going to draw the Canadians in round one while the Penguins get Columbus, two teams with 107 points face off while 2 teams with 100 points go at it… beautiful system.
It’s hard to tell how much these teams will even care tonight. The Rangers certainly don’t want to win and make a move on the Penguins in the standings, and the Penguins wouldn’t mind falling to the Rangers and edging closer to that wild card spot. Tonight may result in both teams just dumping the puck in and jerking off at center ice as Murray and Lundqvist take full ice shots to determine the winner.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS:
I’m reuniting The Top Line in this graphic as an omen. If it doesn’t work blame some random dude on Twitter, but Sullivan said yesterday that things looked promising for both Guentzel and Hainsey tonight. Getting bodies back into the lineup is never a bad thing, and couple that with Sullivan saying he feels Letang and Malkin will be ready for the playoffs things start to look a little brighter than Penguins Twitter paints them. Side bar, but can you imagine the puck possession numbers of a Hagelin-Bonino-Hornqvist line in the playoffs?
WHO TO WATCH:
FOR NEW YORK: RICK NASH
Nash is having another 20 goal year that would be an achievement for most players but for a guy that makes what he does it is nothing short of a disappointment. Currently on the second line, his 37 points in 64 games is only 13 points worse than Conor Sheary’s 50 in 56 games. Nash always finds away to score some ugly goal against the Penguins so that is part of the reason why he is featured here, but mainly because I love mentioning how overrated he has always been. In 312 games with the Rangers Nash has managed 223 points, or 0.71 points per game, or $34,977 per point. Rick Nash, the price of mediocrity.
FOR PITTSBURGH: PHIL KESSEL
That is the image the Pittsburgh media resorts to when Kessel isn’t scoring 4 goals a game. During the Penguins struggle Phil Kessel has come under fire for not producing because the media is running out of things to bitch about. Phil Kessel could go the rest of the regular season without a goal and I would have literally 0 worries about him busting Bobrovsky’s balls in the first round. I’ll throw Kessel in this spot because for some reason when I do this it seems to work, but I am only doing it in hopes that Kessel gets a goal so people quit ragging on the guy.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Like I said, two teams that are in the playoffs and the Rangers have the better playoff matchup between the two. I wouldn’t expect this game to amount to much that resembles playoff hockey which may be a good thing for this AHL/NHL Penguins mashup. The only thing worth watching is The Top Line if they are in fact reunited, outside of that I wouldn’t get too hard thinking about this game. If you’re looking for some good listening before the game be sure to check out Pat & Leahs latest edition that dropped last night. I am personally hoping for the Murray vs Lundqvist full rink shootout to decide this game, and it may be a reality because I don’t see these teams playing inspired hockey tonight.
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