The banged up Rangers and their silly 5-in-7 schedule this week are out in Pittsburgh to take on the Penguins. Pittsburgh was supposed to be a playoff team this year, but goaltending, poor defense, and just aging has made them sellers at the deadline. Still, any team that has Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin can win a game on any given night.
The Blueshirts are banged up, with seemingly half the lineup taking a puck to the face against Tampa on Thursday night. As of the writing of this post, the lineup hasn’t been posted. But it’s expected that Adam Edstrom draws in, likely at the expense of Jonny Brodzinski. It’s also expected that Chad Ruhwedel will get his first game as a Ranger against his old team.
This was a survive kind of week, and with a game at 3pm today with travel and a game tomorrow at 1pm, two points this weekend is acceptable.
Penguins Lines
Michael Bunting-Sidney Crosby-Bryan Rust
Drew O’Connor-Evgeni Malkin-Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith-Lars Eller-Valtteri Puustinen
Emil Bemstrom-Noel Acciari-Jeff Carter
Marcus Pettersson-Kris Letang
Ryan Graves-Erik Karlsson
Ryan Shea-Pierre-Oliver Joseph
Tristan Jarry gets the start.
Rangers Lines
Artemi Panarin-Vincent Trocheck-Alexis Lafreniere
Chris Kreider-Mika Zibanejad-Jack Roslovic
Will Cuylle-Alex Wennberg-Kaapo Kakko
Jimmy Vesey-Barclay Goodrow-Adam Edstrom
Ryan Lindgren-Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller-Braden Schneider
Zac Jones-Chad Ruhwedel
Igor Shesterkin gets the start
Injuries: Filip Chytil (concussion), Blake Wheeler (leg), Jacob Trouba (lower body), Matt Rempe (suspension)
Crazy Prediction: No one takes a puck to the face.
Game time is 3pm.
