About the Rangers - 02-13-11
A preview of the Rangers.
When and where: 3 p.m, Madison Square Garden.
TV: FSN Pittsburgh, MSG, NHL Network (United States), RDS.
Record: 29-24-4, 62 points. The Rangers are in seventh place in the Eastern Conference and third place in the Atlantic Division.
Leading Scorer: Brandon Dubinsky, 41 points (19 goals, 22 assists).
Last Game: 3-2 road loss to the Thrashers, Friday. Marian Gaborik (right) had two assists for the Rangers.
Last Game against the Penguins: 4-3 home shootout loss, Feb. 1. Chris Kunitz had a goal and an assist in regulation for the Penguins.
Rangers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Wojtek Wolski. He has scored in all six of his career games against the Penguins. He has eight points in that span.
Ex-Penguins on the Rangers: Erik Christensen, C; Ruslan Fedotenko, LW; Rick Kehoe, professional scout.
Ex-Rangers on the Penguins: Phil Bourque, broadcaster; Pascal Dupuis, RW; Bob Errey, broadcaster; Tony Granato, assistant coach; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.
Useless Rangers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Christensen is one of four former Penguins who have worn No. 26 for the Rangers. The others are Sheldon Kannegiesser, Kjell Samuelsson and Jay Caufield.
Best Rangers Video We Could Find: Wayne Gretzky and Mark Messier had their own unique approaches to chess:
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Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (26-13-2, 2.24 GAA, .922 SV%) for the Penguins and Henrik Lundqvist (21-18-4, 2.36 GAA, .922 SV%) for the Rangers.
Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Eric Tangradi (head) is out. Forwards Arron Asham (undisclosed), Mike Comrie (hip), Sidney Crosby (concussion), Dustin Jeffrey (leg), Chris Kunitz ("lower body"), Mark Letestu (knee), Evgeni Malkin (knee) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Rangers, forwards Derek Boogaard (shoulder), Chris Drury (knee), Ruslan Fedotenko (appondectomy) and Alexander Frolov (knee) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: We're not going to even guess at line combinations given the absurdities of the past few days. Their defensive pairings against the Islanders Friday were:
Brooks Orpik - Kris Letang
Paul Martin - Zbynek Michalek
Alex Goligoski - Deryk Engelland.
-The Rangers primary lines and defensive pairings in practice yesterday were:
Brandon Dubinsky - Vaclav Prospal - Marian Gaborik
Wojtek Wolski - Brian Boyle - Ryan Callahan
Sean Avery - Artem Anisimov - Derek Stepan
Mats Zuccarello - Erik Christensen - Brandon Prust
Marc Staal - Dan Girardi
Ryan McDonagh - Mike Sauer
Steve Eminger - Matt Gilroy
Notes:
-Matt Cooke and Eric Godard are each serving suspensions.
-Kennedy has 49 career goals.
-Michalek has 98 career assists.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 3 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Christopher Pasatieri/Getty Images)