For the final time this REGULAR season... the New York Rangers will battle the Pittsburgh Penguins. The teams are currently separated in the standings by four points. With the same amount of games in hand, tonight's outcome can certainly play a significant role in configuring where the teams will finish in the standings. While the Hurricanes are only ahead of the Rangers by two points, it's likely they will remain the top team in the Metro, leaving the Rangers and Penguins battling it out for home ice advantage.
The Rangers currently have the upper hand on the season series, having won two of their previous three meetings. The Penguins will look to even out the season series tonight as the Rangers will look to maintain their most recent success against Pittsburgh. The teams met just last week when New York came out on top 3-2 and just four days prior to that was the night they came out on top against them in one of their best games of the season by a score of 5-1. Given where the Rangers are in the standings and what the remaining eleven games mean for this team, you have to think tonight's game as well as the two against Carolina are really the only ones the team should be heavily fixated on. The rest of them are loose change and the focus should be resting guys and just getting to playoffs with a full squad.
On the Penguins end, they're coming off two tough losses to one of the top teams in the league, the Colorado Avalanche. With those losses and the two against New York they are 5-4-1 in their last ten. To no surprise, it's the Penguins core leading the way as of late as Evgeni Malkin has four goals in his last five after returning from a short term injury. Veteran defender Kris Letang is also leading the way with seven assists in the last five. Tristan Jarry continues to hold down the fort in net as he's tied for seventh in the league in goals against average on a team that ranks fourth in that category.
On the Rangers end, Artemi Panarin leads the way with nine points in their last five as he continues to find his teammates with assists, putting pucks in the back of the net more frequently. With Ryan Strome missing some time, the Breadman stepped it up for the Rangers providing slightly more offense than he usually tends to. With Strome still easing into a return from injury, expect Panarin to have more of a shoot first kind of mentality tonight.
As for the rest of the injured Rangers, Kakko and Rooney continue to make progress but I wouldn't expect them back for tonight's action. You have to think about the match up at hand and recognize it's not the ideal opportunity to get those guys back in the mix. I would expect Saturday Night against Ottawa to be the better night for their return. With that in mind and basing assumptions off of the lines at yesterday's practice, you can expect the same line up from Tuesday to take it to Pittsburgh tonight:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vatrano
Panarin - Strome - Copp
Lafreniere - Chytil - Goodrow
Motte - Brodzinski - Hunt
Lindgren - Fox
Miller - Trouba
Braun - Schneider
Igor Shesterkin will get back in net after Georgiev got the nod on Tuesday. Attention will certainly be on the Rangers star net minder who will look to get out of his funk tonight. He shouldn't have to steal the win for the Rangers but if he can have a solid, strong performance and his team plays well in front of him, you can't ask for much more. Nevertheless, it should be a good one tonight in what is the last look at one of the potentially locked in playoff previews.
Chris Feldman
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