Penguins @ Rangers
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
7:00PM Eastern – AT&TSN | MSG
The Penguins round out their 4-game road swing with a trip to the Big Apple to take on the New York Rangers live from the Garden.
The Penguins dusted off Dallas with a herculean performance from Jared McCann which featured a shorthanded goal so silky that the promo codes for Adam & Eve exclude it from eligibility.
In terms of strength of remaining schedule and current positioning, even in light of Carolina’s comeback win against Montreal, the Penguins sit in third in the Metro, 2 points up on the Canes (who do have a game in hand) but 5 full points up on Montreal for the second Wild Card.
Best case scenario (and potentially realistic, looking at Washington and the Isles’ remaining schedules) is for the Penguins to take the Metro. Columbus can get to 100 points if they win out, and the Penguins sit at 93, so let’s say the Pens need 3 wins to make the playoffs. Inclusive of tonight, their remaining schedule is NYRx2, DETx2, CAR, and NSH. Gotta beat the teams that you should.
Kris Letang will sit tonight with an upper-body injury. It’s most likely because he’s dinged up with the wear and tear of the season and also because the Rangers are notoriously fucking dickheads when it comes to cross checking people in the back of the neck. Zach Who Needs to Trotman When You Still Gotta Squatman slots in for 58.
Malkin is still on the mend.
Murray in the cage.
Guentzel – Crosby – Rust
Simon – Bjugstad – Hornqvist
McCann – Blueger – Kessel
A. Johnson – Cullen – Wilson
Dumoulin – Trotman
J. Johnson – Schultz
Pettersson – Gudbranson
Murray
The Rangers sit in 12th in the Eastern Conference, ahead of only New Jersey, Detroit, and Ottawa. Their 71 points in 74 games has them even up with the Buffalo Sabres. They’re 2-5-3 in their last 10 games, and generally just suck.
Mika Zibanejad leads the Rangers in goals, assists, and points (28G+39A=67P). He’s been one of few bright spots on the year.
Henrik Lundqvist’s .909SV% and 2.99GAA is well below his career figures of .919SV% and 2.40GAA. He’s lost his last 3 in regulation and 4 of his last 5 have resulted in Rangers’ losses. And because the Penguins own his soul, he won’t even get the start tonight.
Instead, it’ll be Alexander Georgiev. He’s 11-12-3 on the year with a .909SV% and 3.02GAA. He’s allowed 7 goals on 48 shots in 2 appearances against the Penguins (one in relief) with a regulation loss.
Lemieux – Zibanejad – Buchnevich
Vesey – Andersson – Strome
Namestnikov – Lettieri – Chytil
Nieves – Howden – Smith
Staal – DeAngelo
Skjei – Shattenkirk
Gilmour – Pionk
Georgiev
Decommission the Rangers.
Go Pens.
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