About the Rangers - 03-16-13
A preview of the Rangers.
When and where: 1 p.m. EDT. Consol Energy Center.
TV: Root Sports (Pittsburgh market), MSG (New York market), NHL Network (rest of the United States).
Record: 13-11-2, 28 points. The Rangers are in ninth place in the Eastern Conference and third place in the Atlantic Division.
Leading Scorer: Rick Nash, 23 point (9 goals, 14 assists).
Last Game: 3-1 road loss to the Jets, Thursday. Henrik Lundqvist made 30 saves for the Rangers.
Last Game against the Penguins: 3-0 home loss, Jan. 30. Tomas Vokoun made 28 for the Penguins.
Rangers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Ryan Callahan (above). It's a good day to be Irish.
Ex-Penguins on the Rangers: Arron Asham, RW; Rick Kehoe, professional scout, Glen Sather, general manager.
Ex-Rangers on the Penguins: Pascal Dupuis, RW; Tony Granato, assistant coach.
Useless Rangers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: The only time the Rangers allowed two hat tricks in the same game was a 7-3 loss to the Penguins in Game 5 of an Eastern Conference semifinal, May 11, 1996. Jaromir Jagr and Mario Lemieux each scored three goals.
Best Rangers Video We Could Find: Rangers goaltending Dan Cloutier ... edging ... Rangers goaltender Tomny Salo in a fight during the 1997-98 season:
Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (14-5-0, 2.58 GAA, .905 SV%) for the Penguins. Henrik Lundqvist (11-10-1, 2.27 GAA, .920 SV%) for the Rangers.
Injuries: For the Penguins, center Evgeni Malkin ("upper-body") is out. For the Rangers, defensemen Michael Sauer (concussion), Marc Staal (presumed face) and right winger Arron Asham (back) are on injured reserve.
Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins primary lines and defensive pairings during yesterday's practice were: (PG+)
14 Chris Kunitz - 87 Sidney Crosby - 9 Pascal Dupuis
19 Beau Bennett - 15 Dustin Jeffrey - 18 James Neal
24 Matt Cooke - 16 Brandon Sutter - 48 Tyler Kennedy
10 Tanner Glass - 15 Dustin Jeffrey - 27 Craig Adams
47 Simon Despres - 58 Kris Letang
44 Brooks Orpik - 7 Paul Martin
2 Matt Niskanen - 5 Deryk Engelland
The Rangers are expected to use the same line up as they did against the Jets. Their lines and defensive pairings in that game:
62 Carl Hagelin - 19 Brad Richards - 62 Rick Nash
10 Marian Gaborik - 21 Derek Stepan - 24 Ryan Callahan
14 Taylor Pyatt - 22 Brian Boyle - 47 J.T. Miller
32 Micheal Haley - 15 Jeff Halpern - 8 Darrol Powe
47 Ryan McDonah - 5 Dan Girardi
4 Michael Del Zotto - 6 Anton Stralman
40 Roman Hamrlik - 44 Steve Eminger
Notes:
-The last time the Penguins played the Rangers, this happened:
-The Penguins have won seven consecutive games.
-Letang has 198 career points.
-Fleury has 22 career shutouts. He needs one more to surpass goaltender Tom Barrasso for most in franchise history.
-Goaltender Tomas Vokoun had 49 career shutouts.
-Del Zotto has 99 career points.
-Nash has 298 career goals.
-Richards has 797 career points.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 12:30 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)