rangers penguins mika zibanejad

Derick Brassard is in a Penguins uniform, reunited with Carl Hagelin. Seeing Hagelin in a Pens uniform was bad. Adding Brassard to that is even worse. I really hate the Penguins. And I hate it when they add ex-Rangers. Bah.

Anyway, that’s the main story for this game. The Blueshirts are without Tony DeAngelo, likely done for the year with an ankle injury. Ryan Sproul is up. Alex Georgiev gets the start. Same old, same old as we wrap up the season.

Penguins Systems

The best part about facing the Penguins is that the Rangers faced them recently 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:

Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Conor Sheary
Carl Hagelin-Evgeni Malkin–Patric Hornqvist
Bryan Rust-Derick Brassard-Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnackl-Riley Sheahan-Carter Rowney

Brian Dumoulin-Kris Letang
Olli Maata-Chad Ruhwedel
Jamie Oleksiak-Justin Schultz

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

Casey DeSmith gets the start.

Rangers Lines 

Chris KreiderMika ZibanejadPavel Buchnevich
Jimmy Vesey-Vladislav Namestnikov-Mats Zuccarello
Ryan SpoonerKevin HayesJesper Fast
Paul CareyPeter Holland-Cody McLeod

Brady SkjeiJohn Gilmour
Marc StaalNeal Pionk
Rob O’Gara-Ryan Sproul

PP1: Kreider-Zuccarello-Zibanejad-Buchnevich-Skjei
PP2: Vesey-Holland-Namestnikov-Hayes-Gilmour

Alex Georgiev gets the start.

Scratches/Injuries: Kevin Shattenkirk (knee), Ondrej Pavelec (knee), Steven Kampfer (hand), David Desharnais (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: Brassard and Hagelin score, because of course.

Game time is 8pm. Be sure to follow on our Snapchat for in-game shenanigans.

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