About the Rangers 3-28-09
A preview of the Rangers.
When and where: 1 p.m., Mellon Arena.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh; MSG.
Record: 39-27-9, 87 points. New York is in fourth place in the Atlantic Division and seventh place in the Eastern Conference. How good is the Atlantic Division by the way?
Leading Scorer: Nikolai Zherdev, 56 points (23 goals, 33 assists).
Last Game: 5-4 shootout loss at Atlanta, Thursday. Chris Drury had a goal and two assists for New York.
Last Game against the Penguins: 6-2 road loss, Jan. 28. Kris Letang and Petr Sykora each had two goals while Sidney Crosby recorded a goal and three assists.
Rangers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Behold and obey the king of all Penguins killers, Nik Antropov (right).
Ex-Penguins on the Rangers: Markus Naslund, LW; Michal Roszival, D; Glen Sather general manager; Rick Kehoe, professional scout..
Ex-Rangers on the Penguins: Pascal Dupuis, RW; Petr Sykora, RW; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.
Useless Rangers Trivia: Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist recorded 10 shutouts last season. He was the first Rangers goaltender to hit that mark since John Ross Roach had 13 in 1928-29.
Best Rangers YouTube Video We Could Find: Former Rangers goon Sandy McCarthy losing his stick to a fan then getting it back:
Notes:
-Marc-Andre Fleury (31-17-6, 2.67 GAA, .913 SV%) and Henrik Lundqvist (34-22-7, 2.47 GAA, .914 SV%) are the expected starters in net.
-For what it's worth, Fleury is 7-6-1 with a 2.53 goals against average and .909 save percentage in games following shutouts during his career.
-Fleury's a Britney Spears fan?!? Ugh. We'd start Mathieu Garon just over that.
-Sixth place is on the line today with one point separating these two teams.
-A lot has changed since the Penguins and Rangers last met. First and foremost, each team has a different head coach. Gone are Michel Therrien and Tom Renney. In are Dan Bylsma and John Tortorella.
-On the ice, Ryan Whitney, Nigel Dawes, Dmitri Kalinin and Petr Prucha are out of the equation. In are Bill Guerin, Chris Kunitz, Nik Antropov, Sean Avery and Derek Morris.
-The Rangers are hoping to rebound after blowing a three-goal lead in Thursday's game.
-The Staals are brothers.
-Former Penguins defenseman Michal Rozsival is not expected to play tonight due to a knee injury.
-Despite an eye injury, Rangers defenseman Paul Mara is expected to play.
-Our live blog begins at approximately noon (ugh). Please tune in.
(Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images)