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Update: The Rangers have recalled goalie Alex Georgiev from the AHL. Henrik Lundqvist is out with the flu.

The Rangers and Penguins are at it tonight in a big divisional matchup in a tight Metro Division. The Rangers need two points to stay within striking distance of both the Pens and the Caps. The Pens are also without Matt Murray, so there’s reason to believe this potent offense, even without Mika Zibanejad, could put up a few goals.

The Penguins are struggling to score, but they are still loaded up and down the lineup. Once this team’s luck changes, they are going to get goals in droves. They are still scary, and sooner or later their chances will go in the net. Hopefully it isn’t tonight.

Penguins Systems

The best part about facing the Penguins is that the Rangers faced themrecently in the playoffs. So I have a very detailed systems comparison between the two teams. Go check it out here.

If you don’t want to read it, here’s the long and short of it. Mike Sullivan has the Penguins running a 2-1-2 forecheck, much like Sully used to have when he was an assistant here under John Tortorella. The Penguins run a full zone in the defensive zone, overloading the boards and switching to a box+1 depending on puck location. On special teams, Sully runs a 1-3-1/umbrella hybrid powerplay and a full fledged zone hybrid (box, diamond, wedge+1) penalty kill.

For more details on hockey systems, check out our Systems page.

Penguins Lines:

Conor Sheary-Sidney Crosby-Patric Hornqvist
Jake Guentzel-Evgeni MalkinPhil Kessel
Carl Hagelin-Riley Sheahan-Bryan Rust
Tom Kuhnackl-Carter Rowney-Ryan Reaves

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Olli Maata-Matt Hunwick
Ian Cole-Justin Schultz

PP1: Crosby-Kessel-Malkin-Hornqvist-Letang
PP2: Sheary-Guentzel-Rust-Maata-Schultz

Tristan Jarry gets the start.

Rangers Lines

Chris Kreider–David Desharnais–Pavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey–Kevin Hayes–Rick Nash
Michael Grabner–JT Miller–Mats Zuccarello
Paul Carey-Boo Nieves-Jesper Fast

Ryan McDonagh-Nick Holden
Brady Skjei–Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal–Brendan Smith

PP1: Kreider-Zuccarello-Desharnais-Buchnevich-Shattenkirk
PP2: Nash-Miller-Vesey-Hayes-McDonagh

Ondrej Pavelec gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Mika Zibanejad (concussion), Steven Kampfer (healthy), Henrik Lundqvist (flu)

Crazy Prediction: Ten goals combined by both teams.

Game time is 7:30pm. Be sure to follow on Twitter for gifs, and on our Snapchat for in-game.

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