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It’s time to beat the Penguins

By Steve Paulus

New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) fight for the puck. Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports
New York Rangers center Mika Zibanejad (93) and Pittsburgh Penguins center Sidney Crosby (87) fight for the puck. Credit: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports /
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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 30: Jake Guentzel #59 of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores at 9:20 of the third period against Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JANUARY 30: Jake Guentzel #59 of the Pittsburgh Penguins scores at 9:20 of the third period against Alexandar Georgiev #40 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on January 30, 2021 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

About the Penguins

The Penguins have to qualify as one of the surprises of this season.  While they were expected to contend for a playoff spot, not many picked them to be contending for first place with just 18 games left. In a season that saw front office turmoil with the unexpected departure of General Manager Jim Rutherford, the team has played very well.

The Penguins have had remarkable success considering all of the injuries that they have suffered. They’ve been hit again with Brandon Tanev joining  Evgeni Malkin, Teddy Blueger, Kasperi Kapanen and Mark Friedman on the injured list.

Tristan Jarry is healthy again after missing two games with an upper body injury and will get the start in goal.  Jarry has won all three of his starts this season against the Rangers, allowing seven goals in the three games, all at home.

The top line is doing it for the Penguins.  Sidney Crosby has 21 points in his last 14 games and linemate Jake Guentzel has scored nine goals and 17 points in that same stretch

The Penguins are sixth in the league and second in the East, averaging 3.24 goals per game.  As far the rest of the team’s stats, they are in the middle of the pack, 13th in goals allowed per game, 16th on the power play and 19th best on the penalty kill.  They are 19th when it comes to shots per game and they allow the 15th fewest shots against per game.

They are  tough team to beat. They’ve gone to overtime nine times and have come away with the two points seven times.  They’ve gone into the third period trailing 13 times and have come away with nine points out of 26.  That’s tied with  the Flyers, Bruins and Vegas for the most in the NHL.  Compare that to the Rangers who have gotten two points out of a possible 22 points when trailing.

Projected lineup

59 Jake Guentzel – 87 Sidney Crosby – 17 Bryan Rust
16 Jason Zucker – 19 Jared McCann – 9 Evan Rodrigues
46 Zach Aston-Reese –11 Frederick Gaudreau – 18 Sam Lafferty
67 Radim Zohorna – 14 Mark Jankowski – 7 Colton Sceviour

8 Brian Dumoulin – 58 Kris Letang
28 Marcus Pettersson – 6 John Marino
4 Cody Ceci – 5 Michael Matheson

35 Tristan Jarry
1 Casey DeSmith

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