Well the Penguins completely shut down the Rangers in Game Three, allowing just a shorthanded goal to Rick Nash. Tonight the Rangers will look to avoid falling down 3-1 in a series for the third straight year. To do so, they will need to adjust their offensive strategies to account for the Penguins clogging the neutral zone and slot area.
More specifically, the Rangers are going to have to get a few dirty goals. They are a skilled team, but with the Penguins taking away their space to skate, they will need to just throw pucks at the net, hope for bounces, or bang home rebounds. This is how they’ve won in the playoffs in the past, and this year is no different.
Be sure to check out our series preview, systems preview, stats preview, and goaltender preview posts if you haven’t already. Some quality reading from the amazing writers here.
Penguins Lines
Chris Kunitz-Sidney Crosby-Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin-Nick Bonino-Phil Kessel
Bryan Rust-Evgeni Malkin-Conor Sheary
Tom Kuhnhackl-Matt Cullen-Eric Fehr
Olli Maata-Kris Letang
Brian Dumoulin-Travor Daley
Ben Lovejoy-Ian Cole
PP1: Crosby-Malkin-Kessel-Hornqvist-Letang
PP2: Kunitz-Bonino-Sheary-Daley-Maata
PK: Crosby, Hagelin, Cullen, Fehr, Kuhnhackl, Maata, Letang, Daley, Dumoulin
Matt Murray gets the start.
Rangers Lines (Presumed)
J.T. Miller–Derick Brassard–Rick Nash
Chris Kreider–Derek Stepan–Mats Zuccarello
Oscar Lindberg–Eric Staal–Jesper Fast
Tanner Glass–Dominic Moore–Viktor Stalberg
Ryan McDonagh-Brady Skjei
Marc Staal-Kevin Klein
Keith Yandle-Dan Boyle
PP1: Yandle-Klein-Miller-Hayes-Fast
PP2: Zucc-Boyle-Kreider-Stepan-Brassard
PK: Stepan, Moore, Nash, Fast, Glass, Skjei, Staal, Klein, Boyle
Henrik Lundqvist gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Dan Girardi (everything), Kevin Hayes (healthy), Dylan McIlrath (healthy), Raphael Diaz (healthy)
Crazy Prediction: Rick Nash scores a hat trick.
Be sure to check out our ticket link if you’re looking for tickets to the game. Game time is 7pm on MSG. All gifs will be on nyrgifs.com.
Share:
More About:Game Thread Playoffs