kevin klein

The Rangers, fresh –and I use that word loosely– off their dramatic win against the Devils on Sunday, have a date with the defending Stanley Cup champs tonight. The teams split the home-and-home in November, with each team looking dominant in the other’s home. The Pens are still the gold standard for teams, as they look to see if they can skate with a team showing no signs of slowing down in their quest for another Cup.

As for the Rangers, this is going to be a big test. They are getting crushed by injuries, missing a pair of top-six forwards and another top-nine forward. They certainly have the depth to withstand it, but the Pens are a whole different breed. They have four talented lines, like the Rangers, and can give the Rangers fits. We saw it last month. The increased focus on team defense is going to get a major test tonight.

Penguins Systems

The best part about facing the Penguins is that the Rangers faced them last year. 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
Chris Kunitz-Evgeni Malkin–Bryan Rust
Carl Hagelin–Nick Bonino-Phil Kessel
Scott Wilson-Matt Cullen-Eric Fehr

Derrick Pouliot-Brian Dumoulin
Olli Maata-Steve Oleksy
Justin Schultz-Ian Cole

PP1: Crosby-Sheary-Kessel-Malkin-Letang
PP2: Guentzel-Bonino-Wilson-Daley-Schultz

Matt Murray gets the start.

Rangers Lines:

Chris KreiderDerek StepanMats Zuccarello
Michael Grabner–Kevin HayesJ.T. Miller
Jimmy VeseyOscar LindbergJesper Fast
Matt Puempel–Marek HrivikBrandon Pirri

Ryan McDonaghDan Girardi
Marc StaalNick Holden
Brady SkjeiKevin Klein

PP1: Kreider-Stepan-Pirri-Zucc-McDonagh
PP2: Miller-Vesey-Hayes-Skjei-Klein

Antti Raanta gets the start.

Injuries/Scratches: Mika Zibanejad (broken leg),  Pavel Buchnevich (back spasms), Rick Nash (groin), Adam Clendening (healthy)

Crazy Prediction: A game where no Ranger gets injured. Seriously, enough already.

Game time is 7pm. Gifs are on @blueseatblogs. Be sure to follow our snapchat (blueseatblogs) too!

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