Game Preview: New York Rangers look to get back on track in Pittsburgh
The New York Rangers suffered their second loss of the season against the rival New Jersey Devils on Tuesday night. The Blueshirts have a chance to redeem themselves Friday against another bitter rival, Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins. This will be the first of eight meetings between the two teams this year, and the first of a weekend mini-series. Both teams have new names on the roster, both teams have been met with adversity early in the season.
The key difference between the two franchises is where they are at in terms of championship contention. While the Rangers may be a few years away from making a promising run at the Stanley Cup, they still have one of the brightest young teams in the league. The Penguins, however, have enjoyed their success.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin have brought three Cups to Pittsburgh in the last 13 years, and the Penguins window for contention is slowly starting to close as their superstars age. A full rebuild within the next few years is inevitable for the Penguins. Pittsburgh is a team that the young and hungry Rangers will have to take down this year in order to have any hope at making a postseason run in 2021.
There is a lot to unpack here, so let’s get right into it.
About the Rangers
The Rangers have always been a notoriously slow-starting team, so it’s not time to hit the panic button just yet. However, Blueshirt fans have not been shy holding back when it comes to their wide criticism of head coach David Quinn. Many fans and critics point to the major misuse of Kaapo Kakko and rookie Alexis Lafrenière, the benching on Tony DeAngelo, and the overuse of Jack Johnson as a reason to vent their frustrations with the team.
I’m at the point where the only thing left to believe is that Jack Johnson has some sort of blackmail on David Quinn.
— Blue York (@iamblueyork) January 20, 2021
That’s where I’m at. It’s the only thing that makes sense.
Tony DeAngelo will be back in the lineup, after he was listed as a healthy scratch in each of the Rangers’ last two games. DeAngelo will probably be paired with Jack Johnson. David Quinn also said in a media session on Thursday that he would be changing the forward lines around, in order to try and generate some more chemistry from his team. Quinn confirmed that his new top two lines will consist of Alexis Lafrenière on the left wing, Chris Kreider on the right wing, and Mika Zibanejad at center. Pavel Buchnevich will play right wing with Ryan Strome and Artemi Panarin.
Some good news for Rangers’ fans was that Mika Zibanejad and Brendan Lemieux were on the ice during practice on Thursday, and should be good to go against Pittsburgh. Zibanejad took a hard crash into the boards against New Jersey in the final minutes of the game on Tuesday night. MSG Network cameras caught Zibanejad on the bench, flush with pain.
Lemieux was questionable after the game against New Jersey as well, after he blocked not one, but two massive shots from the always powerful P.K. Subban. In a video that has since gone viral, Lemieux can be seen blocking the first shot then immediately falling to his knees, playing through the pain only to take another puck to his left thigh. Lemieux wasn’t able to get to his feet, and had to scurry to the bench on his knees in obvious pain.
Brendan Lemieux. Hockey player. pic.twitter.com/jka4j7WIcx
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) January 20, 2021
Igor Shesterkin will make his first career start against the Penguins.
About the Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers are two teams that share a lot in common with each other this season. Pittsburgh is another team that is getting off to a slow start, and are predicted to finish low in the East standings this year; they also have a slew of new faces joining their roster as well, and are working toward building their chemistry. While most of the Rangers’ newest players are Blueshirts prospects that we’ve been looking forward to seeing for years, New York was stagnant during the off-season when it came to the trade market.
The Penguins on the other hand, were one of the most active teams in the league. Through trades and free agency, Pittsburgh has seen five fresh faces join the roster with five players going elsewhere.
With all of these new names though, you can never underestimate a Sidney Crosby led team. The Penguins currently hold a 2-2-0 record and sit in fourth place in the East. Pittsburgh was embarrassed by the Philadelphia Flyers in the first two games of the season, being outscored 11-5.
Pittsburgh currently rides a two-game winning streak, as they defeated the Washington Capitals in two straight overtime games heading into Friday night’s game against New York.
It is also worth noting that Pittsburgh’s backup goaltender, Casey DeSmith, has gotten the start between the pipes in two straight games, after Tristan Jarry was shelled against Philadelphia. Jarry is listed as the probably starter for tonight’s game.
Pittsburgh will be without defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Jusso Rikkola, injured Tuesday night. Pettersson is considered week-to-week and Rikkola will be out long term. Defenseman Mike Matheson was placed on injured reserve on Sunday, so the Penguins will be extremely thin at the blue line.
The Penguins recalled defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph from their taxi squad and he will make his NHL debut tonight.
Sidney Crosby leads the Penguins in scoring with five points on three goals and two assists. Jake Guentzel is second with four points on one goal and three assists.
Additions for the Penguins:
- F Kasperi Kapanen – Acquired via trade with Toronto
- D Mike Matheson – Acquired via trade with Florida
- F Colton Sceviour – Acquired via trade with Florida
- F Mark Jankowski – Signed one-year, $700,000 contract with Pittsburgh
- D Cody Ceci – Signed one-year, $1.25 million with Pittsburgh
Subtractions for the Penguins:
- G Matt Murray – Traded to the Ottawa Senators
- F Patric Hornqvist – Traded to the Florida Panthers
- F Dominik Simon – Signed one-year, $700,000 contract with the Calgary Flames
- D Jack Johnson – Bought out by Pittsburgh, signed one-year, $1.15 million contract with the New York Rangers
- D Justin Schultz – Signed one-year, $8 million contract with the Washington Capitals
Last season
The Penguins and Rangers only played each other once last year before the season was paused due to COVID-19. They had been scheduled to meet three times in the last 10 games of the season, all gone due to the pendemic. In their only meeting, the Rangers secured a 3-2 overtime win at Madison Square Garden on November 12th, 2019. Kaapo Kakko scored the overtime winner on a beautiful no look pass from Adam Fox during a 3-on-2 rush.
East Division
There were two games on Thursday in the East Division
Scores
Boston 5, Philadelphia 4 (Shootout)
Islanders 4, New Jersey 1
Standings
Philadelphia 5 3-1-1 7 pts
Islanders 4 3-1-0 6 pts.
Washington 4 2-0-2 6 pts.
New Jersey 4 2-1-1 5 pts.
Boston 4 2-1-1 5 pts.
Pittsburgh 4 2-2-0 4 pts.
Rangers 3 1-2-0 2 pts.
Buffalo 4 1-3-0 2 pts.
About the game
Puck drop is at 7:00 PM EST, and will be televised on MSG Network. The radiocast will be on WEPN 1050AM.
The two teams play a second straight game on Sunday, also in Pittsburgh.
Remember to join Blue Line Station’s live conversation during the game. That live thread will begin a half hour prior to game time.
More. The early goal blues?. light