Rangers vs. Penguins: 3 things to watch for trying to rebound from brutal loss
The New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins not only share being below the wild-card cutoff in the Eastern Conference but each is coming off a brutal defensive showing Saturday.
In their latest crucial game, the Rangers will take the ice in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon less than 24 hours after allowing the first five goals in a terrible 8-2 loss to the Buffalo Sabres in the opener of a three-game road trip.
New York (27-25-4, 58 points) is four points out of the second wild card and its game is slipping lately. After a 10-game point streak (7-0-3) Jan. 5-23, the Rangers are 3-5-0 in their past eight with some of those defensive lapses from the 4-15-0 skid earlier in the season re-emerging. That’s evidenced by three defeats decided by at least three goals.
The defensive issues returned in a massive way Saturday night when the Rangers were grossly outplayed in a disastrous first period that marked the first time they gave up five goals in the opening 20 minutes since 1991. After Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad scored in the second, the Rangers allowed three more in the third period.
It was their worst loss since a 9-3 beating by the Tampa Bay Lightning on Nov. 14, 2019, the 18th time they allowed at least five goals this season and the eighth loss by at least four goals.
Pittsburgh’s situation is even more dire than New York’s. The Penguins (23-26-9, 55 points) have played two more games than the Rangers, are seven points out of the wild card and own the second-fewest points in the Eastern Conference.
The Penguins are coming off an 8-3 home loss to the Washington Capitals. Unlike the Rangers, the Penguins tied the game twice before allowing five straight goals, though none were scored by Alex Ovechkin.
Pittsburgh earned a 3-2 victory over the Rangers on Feb. 7 at MSG in a game that angered coach Peter Laviolette so much he limited his postgame comments to 35 seconds. The Rangers opened the 2024025 season at PPG Paints Arena with a rousing 6-0 victory that seems a very long time ago.
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin missed the previous encounter against the Rangers with injuries but both Penguins stars played Saturday and expect to play Sunday.
Crosby scored his 610th career goal, tying Bobby Hull for 18th all-time in NHL history and has five goals in his past six games. Malkin had an assist but only has three goals in his past 20 games.
Related: Rangers must pay pending RFA K’Andre Miller on track record, not potential
3 things to watch for when Rangers visit Penguins
1. Get through the first five minutes
The Rangers are 3-17-0 when trailing after the opening period, the ninth-worst mark in the NHL. They upped their total to 57 goals allowed in the first period, which is the third-most of any team vying for one of the wild-card spots in the East.
The Rangers allowed their 20th goal within the first five minutes on Saturday and are 3-12-1 when allowing more than one goal in the opening period. Last season, the Rangers allowed 65 goals in opening period and only 15 within the five minutes when they were 11-14-1 trailing through the first 20 minutes.
Simply, the Rangers need to start faster and show more of a pushback if they don’t.
2. Different line combinations
Laviolette tweaked the lines, placing Reilly Smith on the top line with Artemi Panarin and J.T. Miller, putting Will Cuylle with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere on the second line and moving Mika Zibanejad to the third line with Chris Kreider
The top-six players totaled a minus-11 rating, though the combined plus-minus of the team was minus-30. Laviolette was too annoyed to discuss any lineup changes but coming off an ugly performance, it would not be stunning if he made some tweaks, though it might not involve Kreider and Zibanejad since the duo accounted for both goals by getting to the net.
3. Buyer or seller
The Rangers made a pair of trades during December, then acquired J.T. Miller on Jan. 31 to bolster the roster. The additions of Miller along with defenseman Will Borgen and Urho Vaakanainen are working out for the most part and this will be a big week to determine if general manager Chris Drury makes more moves.
There are six games remaining before the March 7 trade deadline. Four of those games are against opponents entering Sunday with fewer points than the Rangers, including two games against the New York Islanders, who host the Dallas Stars on Sunday night.
At this point with their body of work through 56 games, the Rangers may do a little selling and a little buying but more efforts like Saturday in Buffalo might lead to further deals to create salary cap room and playing time for younger players such as Brett Berard and Brennan Othmann.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Panarin – Miller – Smith
Cuylle – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Kreider – Zibanejad-Kaliyev
Brodzinski – Carrick – Rempe
Lindgren – Fox
K. Miller – Borgen
Vaakanainen – Schneider
Shesterkin
Quick
Rangers vs. Penguins: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
When: Sunday Feb. 23 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: PPG Paints Arena
How to watch: TNT
More About:New York Rangers News