Game 54: Carl Hagelin is now with the enemy

The Rangers have won three in a row and are without Ryan McDonagh and Rick Nash. The Penguins are streaking with Mike Sullivan as their new head coach and are without Evgeni Malkin. But the story will be another Carl Hagelin return, this time in Pittsburgh Penguin black, sometimes skating with Sidney Crosby. ~~This is Hagelin’s second trip to MSG since his trade to Anaheim. He returned once with the Ducks before being sent to Pittsburgh~~. (This is an away game. Oops.) This time around, he’s with a division rival. Things are different.

Beyond Hagelin, the Rangers have been surging at even strength. They’ve played four straight solid games at 5v5, but special teams have been a bit slow. The penalty kill has been a bit better of late, in the sense they aren’t hemorrhaging goals left and right. On the bright side, with no Malkin, the Pens are pretty weak outside of their top six and Kris Letang. Teams that lack depth have issues with the Rangers, so that could play in their favor.

Penguins Systems

Under Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh has gotten more aggressive in all facets of the game. They’ve switched back to a 2-1-2 forecheck and look to pursue the puck, rather than play the contain game in the neutral zone. On defense, they play zone and try to defend in layers. All in all, very similar to how Torts coached the Rangers.

Penguins Lines

Chris Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin-Matt Cullen-Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl-Oskar Sundqvist-Bryan Rust
Scott Wilson-Kevin Porter-Conor Sheary

Olli Maata-Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin-Trevor Daley
Derrick Pouliot-Ben Lovejoy

PP1: Crosby-Kunitz-Kessel-Hornqvist-Letang
PP2: Rust-Cullen-Wilson-Daley-Pouliot

PK: Crosby, Hagelin, Cullen, Porter, Kuhnhackl, Dumoulin, Lovejoy, Letang, Daley, Pouliot

Marc-Andre Fleury gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
JT Miller–Derick Brassard–Jesper Fast
Oscar Lindberg–Kevin Hayes–Viktor Stalberg
Daniel Paille–Dominic Moore–Tanner Glass