Game Preview: Pittsburgh Penguins @ NY Rangers 4/1/2024 - Lines, how to watch
The first place Rangers are up next for the Penguins tonight
Who: Pittsburgh Penguins (32-30-11, 75 points, 7th place Metropolitan Division) @ New York Rangers (50-20-4, 104 points, 1st place Metropolitan Division)
When: 7 p.m. ET
How to Watch: SportsNet Pittsburgh, MSG, streaming on ESPN+
Pens’ Path Ahead: It’s the second-to-last full week of the season and it’s a full one for the Pens. After tonight’s game they head across the Hudson River to face the Devils tomorrow night. Then it’s down the I-95 corridor to DC for a game on Thursday, before returning home to Pittsburgh for a Saturday afternoon home contest against Tampa.
Opponent Track: Including the 7-4 win over the Pens a couple weeks ago on March 16th, the Rangers are 7-1-0 in their last eight, including entering tonight on a five-game winning streak. The results have been all thumbs up, but the margins have been tight with one OT and two SO wins in this five-game streak, but wins are wins.
Season Series: It hasn’t been pretty for Pittsburgh. As mentioned, NYR smacked them 7-4 in the last meeting. The Rangers won 1-0 back on Thanksgiving Eve in a back-breaking night where Pittsburgh had three third period power plays and were unable to score (fancy that?). This will be the third and final meeting of the season, since luckily this year the Rangers were one of the two division opponents that Pittsburgh only played 3x instead of four times.
Hidden Stat: No team in the NHL has won more home games so far this year than the Rangers (26). Conversely, Pittsburgh ranks 15th out of 16 Eastern Conference teams with only 12 road victories, and the Pens have lost their last four games at Madison Square Garden.
Getting to know the Rangers
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Jack Roslovic
Artemi Panarin - Vince Trocheck - Alexis Lafrenire
Johnny Brodzinski - Alex Wennberg - Kaapo Kakko
Will Cuylle - Barclay Goodrow - Jimmy Vesey
DEFENSEMEN
Ryan Lindgren / Adam Fox
K’Andre Miller / Jacob Trouba
Zac Jones / Braden Schneider
Goalies: Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick
Possible scratches: Matt Rempe, Chad Ruhwedel, Erik Gustafsson, Brandon Scanlin
IR: Filip Chytil, Blake Wheeler
—In 2022 at the deadline, NYR added Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane but then lost in the first round of the playoffs. They were a lot more practical this time around - picking up Wennberg from Seattle (in part because the Nick Bonino experiment didn’t work out, he was waived and opted to soft retire instead of report to the AHL). Then the Rangers picked up Roslovic in part due to Wheeler suffering a regular season ending injury. Add in good old Chad Ruhwedel for depth (he has played five games with the Blueshirts) and that was it. Not as much sizzle this year, but arguably did a better job to fill needs and beef up the depth more.
—Matt Rempe has only appeared in three games since his suspension ended on March 18th and the wrecking ball toned it down with exactly 0 penalty minutes in all three games. After bursting on the NHL scene with a dizzying array of fights and controversial hits that led to 54 PIMs in just 10 games, Rempe mania has settled down and faded away a bit lately.
Player stats
—Panarin’s 107 points are good for fourth in NHL scoring this year and set a new career-high at age-32. He’s been the high tide to raise a lot of boats, including what will be a career-best season for Trocheck as well.
—Lafreniere is getting his legs under him in season No. 4 of the NHL. He’s never going to be a McDavid/Matthews type of first overall but is still only 22-years old and become a very viable supporting scoring line player. Lafrienere has scored 23 of his 25 goals at even strength, which is up there for the whole league (tied-16th).
—The Rangers have had good fortune with injuries, 10 skaters have played in at least 72 out of their 74 games, and it’s all the key ones aside from a few defenders (Fox, Trouba, Lindgren) who themselves have only missed a handful of games.
—There were many critics about what Quick had left in the tank after several poor seasons in LA recently, but the veteran earned a contract extension by proving to have capable play left in him after all as a backup behind a good team.
Loving Lavi in the first year
Peter Laviolette recently won his 800th career game (ranks seventh all-time) and has had a known history of making waves early in stints with teams.
- 2005-06, second year in Carolina (after a re-start that wiped out the 2004-05 season): won Stanley Cup
- 2009-10, first year in Philadelphia: made it to SC Final
- 2014-15, first year in Nashville: a +16 point improvement from their previous season going from sixth to second in the division year over year
- 2020-21, first year in Washington: a +12 point improvement (based on points%) from their prior year, lost tie-breaker to Pittsburgh for division championship
It’s all warm and fuzzies so far in Manhattan in Laviolette’s first year there so far, with the Rangers likely to improve off of what was a 107-point team last year (104 points already with eight more games to play) and a possible division championship.
Gallant said his job wasn't development. With more pressure to win, Laviolette is giving a dozen young players chances in different roles for the sake of science.
— Adam Herman (@AdamZHerman) March 26, 2024
Two completely different philosophies that reflect each coach's confidence in his own abilities to teach & adjust.
Playoff success has been fleeting (another reminder that winning in the playoffs is really hard) - Laviolette hasn’t won a playoff series since 2018 (which we here all the time about other coaches..) but hopes are high that this Rangers team can compete as well as anyone else in a stacked Eastern Conference come playoff time
And now for the Pens
Projected lines
FORWARDS
Drew O’Connor - Sidney Crosby - Bryan Rust
Michael Bunting - Evgeni Malkin - Rickard Rakell
Reilly Smith - Lars Eller - Valtteri Puustinen
Jesse Puljujarvi - Sam Poulin - Jeff Carter
DEFENSEMEN
P.O. Joseph / Kris Letang
Marcus Pettersson / Erik Karlsson
John Ludvig / Jack St. Ivany
Goalies: Tristan Jarry or Alex Nedeljkovic
Potential Scratches: Ryan Shea, Emil Bemstrom, Ryan Graves (concussion)
IR: Matt Nieto (knee surgery), Jansen Harkins (hand injury), Noel Acciari (lower body injury)
—No practice yesterday for the Pens as they gear up for a Monday-Tuesday b-2-b. That means we’ll have to see about the sickness that forced Bunting out of Saturday night’s game and if he’s able to take his spot in the lineup.
—Tonight could be the time for a mini Tristan Jarry redemption. Nedeljkovic has started the prior four games in a row.