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Pregame Notes: Rangers vs Penguins, Game 69
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
- It was announced yesterday that Evgeni Malkin would miss today’s game and will be out for the next 6-8 weeks. Malkin sustained an upper body injury on Friday after a collision in their game against the Blue Jackets.
- Derick Brassard will re-join the Rangers lineup after missing yesterday’s game in Detroit with the flu. He will take the place of Tanner Glass, who sustained an upper body injury in yesterday’s game.
- Goalie matchup; Henrik Lundqvist (31-17-5, .923 SV%, 2.32 GAA) vs Marc Andre-Fleury (28-16-6, .922 SV%, 2.34 GAA). Lundqvist is coming off of a fantastic 40 save performance in an overtime loss against the Red Wings. Fleury made 25 saves and allowed two goals in the win over Columbus, which was the 350th win of his career.
- This is the third matchup between the Rangers and Penguins this season, and the first between these two teams at MSG since Carl Hagelin scored the overtime game-winner in Game 5 back in April. Lundqvist shut out the Penguins back on February 10th in a 3-0 Rangers win, and the Penguins got their revenge with a 4-1 win just 10 games ago. Nine different Rangers have a point in the two games against the Penguins.
- Sidney Crosby is heating up again, currently riding a seven game point streak where he has scored 11 points (3-8-11). He’ll skate on a line with Chris Kunitz (13-20-33) and Patric Hornqvist (17-26-43).
- Crosby leads the Penguins in goals (28), points (67), and is tied with Kris Letang in assists (39).
- The Rangers have picked up a point in 10 of the last 12 games against the Penguins dating back to April 3, 2013 (7-2-3). They’ve also picked up a point in six of the last seven games against Pittsburgh (5-1-1).
- Eric Staal skated with Rick Nash for the first time and that line had some good shifts. Staal has had success against the Penguins in his career, with 46 points (19-27-46) in 47 games. He’s recorded a point in 10 of the last 16 games against Pittsburgh, with 16 points (6-10-16) in those games.
- Rick Nash has also been good against the Penguins in his career, tallying 19 points (11-8-19) in 22 games. He has a point in each of the last four games against Pittsburgh (4-3-7).
- The Rangers have won 13 straight games following a regulation loss or an overtime loss dating back to December 22nd against the Ducks.
- The Rangers have a point in 14 of their last 17 games on home ice (12-3-2), as well as 12 of their last 14 games (10-2-2). The Blueshirts have a 22-6-2 record in the last 30 home games, and rank third in the league in wins (23) and points (49) this season.
- The Rangers have an 8-4-1 record in the second game of a back-to-back sets this season. New York has an 18-5-2 record in the second game of their last 25 back-to-back sets. Since the start of the 2013-14 season, the Rangers are 27-11-2 in those same circumstances.
- The Rangers and Penguins will faceoff at Madison Square Garden at 12:30 PM
EXPECTED LINEUP
JT Miller-Derick Brassard-Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Kevin Hayes
Rick Nash-Eric Staal-Viktor Stalberg
Oscar Lindberg-Dominic Moore-Jesper Fast
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle-Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist
Lundqvist stellar as Rangers fall to Detroit in overtime
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
The Rangers (39-22-7) came within an inch of beating the Red Wings (34-23-11), but instead came up on the short end of the stick with a 3-2 overtime loss at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
Ryan McDonagh had a chance to win the game in regulation with the Detroit net empty, but his shorthanded shot from the other end of the ice hit off of the post. Detroit would score on the power play with less than 40 seconds remaining, and wind up winning the game in overtime.
Henrik Lundqvist made his return to the lineup, and the Rangers made him work entirely too hard. Lundqvist faced 43 shots, making 40 saves. He was the sole reason why this game wasn’t 7-2 or even worse. Read the rest of this entry
The Return of the King; Lundqvist back in net as Rangers battle Red Wings
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
After missing the last three games with neck spasms, Henrik Lundqvist is ready to take back his spot in the crease as the Rangers (39-22-6) take on the Detroit Red Wings (33-23-11) at the Joe Louis Arena in an Original Six matchup.
Likely joining Lundqvist will be Rick Nash, who has been out of the lineup since January 22nd with a bone bruise. He’s been skating and practicing this week and should be good to go for today’s game. In the likely event that Nash does play, he’ll skate with Eric Staal on the third line, marking the first time they’ll be playing together on the Rangers.
With the good news also comes some bad news. Center Derick Brassard is a question mark for today’s game due to the flu. He’s doubtful, and Kevin Hayes would slide to center if he doesn’t play.
The Rangers are coming off of a 4-2 win over the Buffalo Sabres, with goals from Brassard, Zuccarello and Jesper Fast. However, they played pretty poor down the stretch and to start the game. The Rangers were outshot 36-26 and Raanta bailed out the team. They’ve split the last four games (2-2-0) but have won seven of the last 10 games.
This is the second of three meetings between the Rangers and Red Wings this season, and the first in Detroit. Back on February 21st, Henrik Lundqvist and the Blueshirts outdueled Jimmy Howard and Detroit in a 1-0 overtime win at the Garden, with Kevin Klein scoring the only goal of the game. Hank had 22 saves and Howard made 29 saves, benefitting from a disallowed goal from Kevin Hayes. Three of the last four games have been decided in overtime, and eight of the last nine games have been decided by one goal.
The Red Wings won their last game on Thursday against the Jets, but they had lost their last three games before that, getting outscored 14-6. The Red Wings are in a fight for their playoff lives, holding just a two point lead over the Philadelphia Flyers for the last playoff spot. Every game is crucial and the Red Wings need all the points they could get.
The 19 year-old rookie Dylan Larkin started out his season producing and hasn’t stopped, sitting in second place on the team in scoring with 40 points. He scored a goal on Thursday, giving him 20 for the season. He’s the first Red Wings rookie to reach that mark since current Captain Henrik Zetterberg did so 13 seasons ago. He’s a great skater and an offensive catalyst, and the Rangers will need to keep an eye out for him.
Detroit has another talented young player on their team named Andreas Athanasiou, a rookie taken in the fourth round of the 2012 NHL draft. Athanasiou hasn’t been up in the NHL for that long but his presence has been felt. He’s an incredible skater with blistering speed that can catch you off guard and enough skill to put one past the netminder, scoring three goals in the last five games.
For the Rangers, Rick Nash’s return will be a huge boost to the lineup. Alain Vigneault had him skating on a line with Eric Staal and Viktor Stalberg, creating a big line with speed and skill. Doing so will create matchup problems for opposing teams, because they’d have to figure out how to stop the two 300 goal scorers in Nash and Staal while also stopping the lines centered by Derek Stepan and Derick Brassard/Kevin Hayes. It’s probably be a game or two before Nash is back to his usual self, but pairing him with Staal and Stalberg puts him in a position to succeed.
It looks like Derick Brassard will be unavailable, which gives Kevin Hayes a big opportunity. Hayes has been stuck on the fourth line for the past few games, but he would be centering Chris Kreider and Jesper Fast today. He’s shown some signs of a resurgence before being thrown onto the fourth line, and he’ll get another chance to produce in the top-six today.
The Rangers and the Red Wings will faceoff at the Joe Louis Arena at 2 PM. The game will be broadcasted on MSG Network.
EXPECTED LINES
JT Miller-Derek Stepan-Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider-Kevin Hayes-Jesper Fast
Rick Nash-Eric Staal-Viktor Stalberg
Oscar Lindberg-Dominic Moore-Tanner Glass
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi
Marc Staal-Dan Boyle
Keith Yandle-Kevin Klein
Henrik Lundqvist
Lundqvist to start in Detroit tomorrow; Good chance Nash and Staal play vs Red Wings
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers can expect Rick Nash and Henrik Lundqvist back in the lineup tomorrow. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
After today’s practice, Alain Vigneault said the one thing that all Rangers fans were waiting to hear for an entire week.
“Hank is good to go,” Vigneault told reporters.
Henrik Lundqvist had suffered neck spasms after colliding with Ryan McDonagh in the loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins, which was when he knocked over the net to get a needed stoppage. He’s missed the last three games, and Antti Raanta is 2-1-0 filling in for those starts. Read the rest of this entry
The Rangers should keep Raanta and Stalberg past this season
Bobby Bevilacqua
Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Jeff Gorton is going to have a lot of decisions to make this offseason, whether it be trading some of the big contracts currently on the team or finding a way to allocate money to all of the free agents. With all of the expiring contracts, that will be some of the hardest decisions he has to make. But two of the players that he should absolutely keep are Antti Raanta and Viktor Stalberg.
Both players were offseason acquisitions, and both have been pretty important members of the Rangers this season. Raanta took over the big void left by Cam Talbot, and Stalberg supplied a much needed presence in the bottom six.
Raanta has been largely solid for the Rangers in his first season here. Gorton traded prospect Ryan Haggerty to the Blackhawks and snatched the Finnish netminder to backup Henrik Lundqvist. Raanta has the same luxuries that Cam Talbot had in his time here, mainly learning from Lundqvist as well as goalie guru Benoit Allaire.
Raanta won four straight games to start the season, allowing five goals in four games, including two games with just one goal allowed as well a one shutout. He lost his next six games, two in overtime, despite playing well in three of those.
A big reason for his losses wound up being irregular playing time as well as injuries. Raanta was bothered by concussion-like symptoms after taking a shot to the mask in a game against the Minnesota Wild. He had a gap of over a month between his two starts, and then back issues forced him to miss nearly another month.
Since getting regular starts, Raanta has been a lot better, and has even stolen some games away lately. He’s won four of his last five starts, allowing two goals or less in all of the wins, and having only one setback against the Islanders. But to be fair, I don’t think many goaltenders would have had success with the defense that was being played in that game.
There’s really no positives out of a player getting injured, but if there was one surrounding Raanta, it’s the fact that he’ll be pretty cheap to re-sign. He hasn’t done enough to get a contract well over a million dollars, and I think it’ll be closer to the value of an entry level contract ($925k). If he’s asking much higher than that, there’s always Magnus Hellberg. But I don’t think it will come to that.
Viktor Stalberg has been one of my favorite offseason acquisitions, and his $1.1 million contract makes it even better. He’s not a prolific goal scorer, but he’s just a really well-rounded player. The best way to explain it is that he’s a poor man’s Chris Kreider. Stalberg has incredible speed that catches player’s off guard, he’s very strong on the forecheck and he has been used effectively in defensive roles and on the penalty kill.
So far, Stalberg has tallied 18 points (8-10-18) in 61 games. And while the numbers don’t look fantastic, Stalberg has been pretty unlucky at times, hitting the goalpost and getting robbed of some other chances. Granted, he doesn’t have the best hands so he doesn’t finish as much as some would expect, but he’s a very solid bottom six player who can stretch as a second liner when needed or if he’s having a good game.
Stalberg has also done a decent job of filling the void left by the departure of Carl Hagelin. Stalberg has a better 5v5 Points/60 rating (1.45 to 1.40) and a better 5v5 Primary Points/60 rating (1.09 to .86) than Carl Hagelin, and his Corsi For% of 47.50 is alright.
For $1.1 million, Stalberg is a bargain. And with a bit more luck and some better finishing, he could hit the 13-15 goal mark in a good year. Because of his versatility, his speed and his ability to produce more, Stalberg should be kept after this season.
therangerzone.com 