Photo: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

Photo: Charles LeClaire-USA TODAY Sports

The Rangers scored twice in overtime on Friday night to take a 1-0 series lead, and stole home-ice advantage in the process. The Penguins were exploited twice for abandoning the slot and paid the prices. The Rangers were exploited twice for not picking up the trailer at the blue line. Both teams will make adjustments tonight. Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were quiet on Friday, but that won’t last for long either.

Justin did an entire breakdown of this series, and it’s great reading if you haven’t done so already. This series will be won with special teams, but the Rangers –believe it or not– held the advantage at even strength during the regular season. If they can stay out of the box and exploit the fairly weak Pittsburgh defense and goaltending, as they did in Game One, they have a solid chance of coming home with a 2-0 series lead.

Rangers Lines:

Forwards

Martin St. LouisDerek StepanRick Nash
Carl HagelinBrad RichardsDan Carcillo
Benoit PouliotDerick BrassardMats Zuccarello
Brian BoyleDominic MooreDerek Dorsett

Defense

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalAnton Stralman
John MooreKevin Klein

Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Chris Kreider (hand), Raphael Diaz (healthy), Ryan Haggerty (healthy), Jesper Fast (healthy) Justin Falk (healthy), J.T. Miller (healthy)

Game time is 7:30pm on NBCSN. Don’t forget to check out our Rangers Tickets link for deals to attend games.

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