The Rangers are on the road as the series moves to PNG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh, PA for game three of the Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. After tying up the series in game two, the Rangers will look to carry that momentum into tonight to stay on top of the Penguins. With the series tied, this will be a pivotal game for either team to get a bit of an upper hand. While the Penguins will now have the advantage of home ice, if the Blueshirts can manage to win both games on the road and come back to the Garden with the potential to take the series, it would be a huge morale boost and opportunity for this Rangers team.
The Penguins will once again look to Louis Domingue to hold down the fort in net as they announced yesterday Casey DeSmith had a successful core muscle surgery, leaving him out for the remainder of the post season. A tough loss for the Penguins who were already without their starter in Tristan Jarry, who continues to rehab as the Pens are down to their third string goalie. Brian Dumoulin, who did not play in game two remains listed as day-to-day, as is Rickard Rakell who did skate yesterday. Jason Zucker, who has yet to play in this post-season will be a game-time decision.
On the Rangers end, they will be without Barclay Goodrow for the remainder of the series with what many are speculating is a broken foot. During one of the overtime periods in game one, he appeared to block a shot where it likely happened, however continued to play the rest of the game. What a warrior if he did indeed play through overtime on a broken foot although you have to hope he didn’t prolong the injury by doing so. Ryan Lindgren who also missed game two didn’t skate during yesterday’s optional skate so you have to think at best he will be a game time decision.
Some good news on the Rangers injury front is Tyler Motte is skating on his own for the first time since his injury. While a return during this series may still be unlikely, that’s huge news that he’s getting closer to a return. With Goodrow out of the lineup, Motte would be a huge piece to add to that fourth line in Goodrow’s place. In the meantime, Dryden Hunt will step in as the next man up and did a pretty good job of it in game two. All things considered, you can expect a very similar lineup tonight as we saw in game two:
Kreider - Zibanejad - Vatrano
Panarin - Strome - Copp
Lafreniere - Chytil - Kakko
Hunt - Rooney - Reaves
Miller - Trouba
Lindgren* - Fox
Nemeth* - Schneider
*If Lindgren isn’t ready, Justin Braun will go in his place. If Lindgren is ready, we could see Braun with Schneider instead of Patrik Nemeth.
The Rangers will definitely want to keep aspects from their showing in game two while tightening up defensively, buckling down in the face-off circles and staying out of the box. Especially when the Crosby line is out there, the Rangers have to be extra aware of all five Penguins players on the ice and back check a little harder. Both goals in game two could’ve been prevented with an extra effort on the back check and a little tighter positioning. Face-offs will be another key factor, especially in the offensive zone if they want to take this game from the Penguins. Can’t let them get too high at any point during those sixty minutes, especially in the early parts of the game. The Rangers have to get on the scoreboard early to take Pittsburgh and their crowd out of the game. They did what they needed to to even up the series in game two, but now is the time to accelerate even harder, stick it to the Penguins and get up in the series.
Chris Feldman
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