New York Rangers will try to beat Pittsburgh at their own game once again

By John Williams | Nov 23, 2016

Nov 21, 2016; Pittsburgh, PA, USA; New York Rangers left wing J.T. Miller (10) clears the defensive zone against the Pittsburgh Penguins during the second period at the PPG Paints Arena. Mandatory Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /

The New York Rangers realized in their five-game series defeat to the Pittsburgh Penguins in the 2015-2016 playoffs that they needed to change the way they played their game. And did they ever…

On Monday, the New York Rangers encountered one of the toughest matchups yet on their 2016-2017 schedule, a meeting with the Pittsburgh Penguins in Pittsburgh. After a slow start in which they allowed two goals in the first period to rookie Jake Guentzel, the team rallied back to defeat the reigning Stanley Cup Champions 5-2.

And the way they did looked awfully familiar…

In case you don’t remember, the Penguins made the Rangers look irrelevant last April in a first-round playoff series which saw them dominate their way to a five-game series victory.

More from Analysis

The Penguins were able to capitalize on the Rangers lack of speed with their abundance of speed throughout their four lines, and even though they might not have had the deepest defensive unit by any stretch, the possession game allowed them to not have to worry about that as much.

Fast forward to November 2016, and you can basically switch out the Penguins name in the above paragraph and put the word “Rangers” in its place.

Afterall, they do say that imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.

While the Rangers may not have the same kind of star power up front as the Penguins do with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel, they do have more depth throughout their lineup than Pittsburgh.

If you’re not convinced, then let this tweet by @ev_spooner do the trick.

Rangers players with an AAV <$4M are out-scoring 21 entire teams in the NHL.
— Evan Sporer (@ev_sporer) November 22, 2016

How is this possible? The Rangers decided to stop stuffing their lineup with guys who were strictly there for the penalty kill or other defensive purposes like Tanner Glass–who did none of those things well–Jarret Stoll and who could forget the Daniel Paileexperimentt?

They decided to fill out their lineup with players who were young, quick, cheap and have some scoring touch instead, such as Michael Grabner, Brandon Pirri and Josh Jooris. This is why the New York Rangers are off to the 14-5-1 start they are at, 20 games into the season.

And here they are again tonight, facing off against the Penguins at the Garden. Here are your players to watch for the game.

5. Jimmy Vesey– Vesey has only one goal and two assists in his last 10 games after his hot start to the season. I don’t really think this is his own doing by any stretch. He has still been playing well of late and it is only a matter of time until he gets back in the goal column, but it is something that is worth noting.

4. Jake Guentzel- The rookie for the Penguins scored the team’s only two goals in Monday’s game against New York. Interestingly enough, Guentzel is the only Penguins player who finished with a positive plus/minus rating in Monday’s game. The Penguins obviously can’t expect the same kind of production in tonight’s game, but maybe Monday’s performance bought him an extended chance at a top six role with Chris Kunitz and Patric Hornqvist out due to injuries.

3. Oscar Lindberg– Lindberg has only one point on the season after coming back from his hip injury which required surgery. Right now, it appears that he will have a longer leash due to the injuries of Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich, but the team may be tempted to try out 23-year-old Matt Puempel who they claimed off waivers from the Ottawa Senators if he doesn’t start putting together noticeable shifts.

2. Matt Murray- Murray has been phenomenal since coming back from his hand injury that caused him to miss action in October. Murray will take his 5-1 record into the Garden in his first matchup against the Rangers since his game five victory. It will be interesting to see if the Rangers can get to him now, unlike hey did in April.

1 Brandon Pirri- Brandon Pirri will be seeing a big uptick in time playing time with the injuries to Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad. Because of this, he is undoubtedly the player to watch right now for the Rangers. If he is able to perform like many people know he can, then the Rangers will be fine. If not, the Rangers high powered offense will fall off a little bit until both European born forwards return to the lineup.

Next: Adam Clendening must be freed

Who are your players to watch for tonight’s game? Let us know in the comment section below, or you can tweet me @JaW1224 or the website’s Twitter @BlueLineStation. Lets’s go Rangers!