Rangers vs. Penguins: Join the live conversation!

The lineup will be the same as in the last Buffalo game except for goal where Alexandar Georgiev is getting the start.   Coach David Quinn didn’t give a reason for changing goalies except to say that the team has two good goalies and he wants to use them both.

There may be a slight change in the power play, but it won’t be in terms of manpower.  Talking about the power play, Quinn says that the first unit will have to change sooner, giving the second unit some more ice time.  He did note that one one man advantage against Buffalo, the first unit remained in the offensive zone the whole two minutes, more the exception than the rule.

In talking bout the team, Quinn focused on the resilience the Rangers showed as opposed to the first game in Buffalo. “One of the things i was really proud of our team was how even keeled we remained …in the first period we really played  great period and they scored with 20 seconds to go to tie it.  You come out of that period, how the frig are we tied after that period…We had some great chances, our power play was unbelievable   I just liked our mental toughness and our perseverance, the will, the desire, not accepting anything but winning…that has to be our approach night in, night out.”

He did address the issue of ice time and admitted that he didn’t use Kaapo Kakko as much as he should have.  He blamed it on the flow of the game and it wasn’t anything the player did.  He said that it wouldn’t happen again.

The Rangers play seven of the next eight games at Madison Square Garden so if there is any time to go on a run, this is it.  The question is whether home ice advantage is real in a season with no fans in the sets.

Projected starting lineups

New York Rangers
13 Lafrenière– 93 Zibanejad – 89 Buchnevich
10 Panarin – 16 Strome –   43 Blackwell
20 Kreider – 14 Howden–   24 Kakko
48 Lemieux – 17 Rooney–  33  Di Giuseppe

55 Lindgren  – 23 Fox
79 Miller – 8 Trouba
42 Smith-77 DeAngelo

40 Georgiev
31 Shesterkin

Pittsburgh Penguins

59 Jake Guentzel – 87 Sidney Crosby – 17 Bryan Rust
16 Jason Zucker -71 Evgeni Malkin – 42 Kasperi Kapanen
19 Jared McCann  – 53 Teddy Blueger  – 13 Brandon Tanev
10 Drew O’Connor – 14 Mark Jankowski   –  7 Colton Sceviour

73 Pierre-Oliver Joseph – 58 Kris Letang
6 John Marino – 4 Cody  Ceci
27 Kevin Czuczman– 2 Chad Ruhwedel

35 Tristan Jarry
1 Casey DeSmith

Join the live conversation!

Blue Line Station’s live conversation is open now. It’s an opportunity for you to weigh in with your fellow Ranger fans during the game.  We’ve had some lively discussions so please join in.

Game time is 7pm on the MSG Network.