After Saturday’s surprising win over the Leafs, the Rangers are back in action tonight against another playoff team. I think we can all agree that outside of potentially the Isles, the Penguins are all of our least favorite playoff teams. Their time will come. But it isn’t this year.
The Rangers are dressing weird lineups, as elite fourth line forward Brendan Smith continues to play on that fourth line. I guess it makes sense, since the Rangers are apparently shutting down Kreider and Fast. He’s looked surprisingly decent in that role too.
As long as the kids get good, long looks, I’m ok with basically everything else. I’d like to see Lias Andersson get much longer looks and gain some confidence. Ditto Filip Chytil. That’s all I ask in the final seven games.
Penguins Lines
Jake Guentzel-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Theodore Blueger-Jared McCann-Phil Kessel
Dominik Simon-Nick Bjugstad-Patric Hornqvist
Adam Johnson-Matt Cullen-Garrett Wilson
Brian Dumoulin-Zach Trotman
Jack Johnson–Justin Schultz
Marcus Pettersson-Erik Gudbranson
PP1: Guentzel-Crosby-Hornqvist-Kessel-Schultz
PP2: McCann-Bjugstad-Simon-Pettersson-Trotman
Matt Murray gets the start.
Rangers Lines (doing the best I can here, they change hourly)
Brendan Lemieux–Mika Zibanejad–Pavel Buchnevich
Vlad Namestnikov–Filip Chytil–Vinni Lettieri
Jimmy Vesey–Lias Andersson–Ryan Strome
Boo Nieves–Brett Howden–Brendan Smith
Brady Skjei–Kevin Shattenkirk
Fredrik Claesson–Tony DeAngelo
John Gilmour–Neal Pionk
PP1: Zibanejad-Namestnikov-Vesey-Buchnevich-DeAngelo
PP2: Strome-Chytil-Howden-?-Shattenkirk
Alex Georgiev gets the start.
Scratches/Injuries: Libor Hajek (shoulder), Jesper Fast (lower body), Chris Kreider (lower body), Marc Staal (lower body)
Crazy Prediction: Crosy doesn’t complain about anything tonight.
Game time is 7pm.
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