Rangers vs. Penguins: Lineups, storylines closing horrid month of January
The New York Rangers close out a horrid month of January, when they visit the Pittsburgh Penguins in a Saturday matinee at PPG Paints Arena.
Despite a thrilling 5-1 outdoors victory over the Florida Panthers at the 2026 Winter Classic in Miami to start the month, the Rangers are 3-9-1 overall in January. They’ve lost five of their past six games, and 10 of 12 (2-9-1). It didn’t help the Rangers that the losing included two key players — goalie Igor Shesterkin and defenseman Adam Fox — in the same game on Jan. 5 with lower-body injuries, and neither played again this month.
You may have heard that as a result of all this losing, the Rangers (22-27-6) are last in the Eastern Conference and recently waived the white flag on this season. A roster retool is underway, and so Artemi Panarin, their leading scorer, sits for a third straight game Saturday awaiting a trade.
Whereas the Rangers season cratered this month, the Penguins (27-14-11) surged into second place in the Metropolitan Division during January. Though the weather’s been frigid, the Penguins are scorching hot in January, with points in 12 of 14 games (10-2-2). Since returning from the NHL holiday break on Dec. 28, the Penguins are 12-2-2.
They enter this one on a five-game winning streak, after dismantling the Chicago Blackhawks 6-2 on Thursday. The Penguins won six in a row to begin this run in late December.
This is the third of four meetings between the division rivals this season. The Penguins shut out the Rangers 3-0 on opening night at Madison Square Garden; and four nights later, on Oct. 11, the Rangers hammered the Penguins 6-1 in Pittsburgh. The Rangers won each of their past five visits to PPG Paints Arena.
3 storylines when Rangers visit Penguins
1. The coaches
Mike Sullivan coached the Penguins for 10 seasons and led them to consecutive Stanley Cup championships his first two years in Pittsburgh. The Penguins celebrate the first of those title winners, the one from 2016, in a 10th anniversary pregame ceremony Saturday afternoon.
You can bet that Sullivan’s going to have plenty of mixed emotions. He stands behind the Rangers’ bench now, but is a major reason why the Penguins turned things around back in 2015-16 and won the Cup. However, his Penguins tenure ended with three straight seasons out of the playoffs, and now he oversees one of the most disappointing teams in the NHL during his first season on Broadway.
On the flip side, there’s Pittsburgh’s Dan Muse, who’s a serious candidate to win the Jack Adams Award as coach of the year in the NHL. Of course, Muse replaced Sullivan after serving two seasons as a Rangers assistant under Peter Laviolette, and is thriving in his first crack at running his own bench at this level. Though he doesn’t have the gravitas Sullivan does, Muse’s steady hand is at the heart of this current Penguins revival.
2. The core remains the heart
As the Rangers retool and try to figure out which players should make up their core moving forward, the Penguins continue to rely on three key core pieces from the championship-winning teams from Sullivan’s tenure.
Sidney Crosby, who’ll wear the captain’s C for Canada at the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympics in February, remains elite at the age of 38. He leads the Penguins with 27 goals and 57 points in 52 games, again averaging better than a point per game, something he’s done in each of his 20 previous seasons in the NHL.
Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, 39 and 38 respectively, also remain vitally important to Pittsburgh’s success, though each is questionable Saturday after missing practice Friday for “medical reasons.” Malkin, who had a shoulder injury earlier this season, is second on the Penguins with 41 points (13 goals, 28 assists) in 37 games. Just last week he indicated interest in playing one more NHL season, at the age of 40. Letang is second among Penguins defensemen with 25 points (three goals, 22 assists) in 50 games, and is second on the team averaging 22:06 TOI.
UPDATE: Letang was placed on injured reserve Saturday and is expected to miss at least four weeks with a fracture in his foot
3. Vinny’s last trip home with Rangers?
Vincent Trocheck established himself as a core member of the Rangers roster after signing with the Blueshirts ahead of the 2022-23 season. He’s a heart-and-soul player, a two-way force at each end of the rink and among the best face-off men in the League, as well as a respected voice in the locker room.
But he may not be a Ranger much longer. Perhaps no other player on the Blueshirts roster can fetch as big a return package as Trocheck ahead of the March 6 NHL Trade Deadline, and that includes his longtime linemate Panarin. With three more years of team control at a very manageable $5.625 million salary-cap hit, not to mention a limited no-trade clause, Trocheck is a valuable asset who plays a premium position, and is a proven big-game performer. There’s hardly a playoff contender in this league that couldn’t use Trocheck.
How much the trade rumors weigh on the Pittsburgh native is unknown. But he’s without a goal in 10 games, though Trocheck does have seven assists in that span. When you think core Rangers, you think Trocheck. But if this retool is going to truly usher in a new era, then trading the 32-year-old center likely is required.
New York Rangers projected lineup
Gabe Perreault — J.T. Miller — Mika Zibanejad
Will Cuylle — Vincent Trocheck — Alexis Lafreniere
Brennan Othmann — Noah Laba — Taylor Raddysh
Brett Berard — Sam Carrick — Matt Rempe
Vladislav Gavrikov — Braden Schneider
Matthew Robertson — Will Borgen
Urho Vaakanainen — Scott Morrow
Jonathan Quick
Spencer Martin
Rangers vs. Penguins: When, where, what time, how to watch
Who: New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins
When: Saturday, Jan. 31 at 3:30 p.m. ET
Where: PPG Paints Arena
How to watch: ABC
