The Rangers put their three-game win streak on the line Wednesday with their first of four meetings against the Penguins. Pittsburgh comes in having won two in a row and six of their last seven fueled by the surging Sidney Crosby. In addition, the change from Mike Johnston to Mike Sullivan has done wonders to the team's psyche and playing style.

Both teams enter the game missing key personnel. For New York, Rick Nash will miss his seventh in a row due to the 'bone bruise' in his left leg while Ryan McDonagh sits out his second straight due to the concussion he received from Wayne Simmonds' punch. Pittsburgh will be without Evgeni Malkin, who is dealing with a knee injury and will miss the rest of the week. In addition, Eric Fehr and Beau Bennett are sidelined.

Pittsburgh has been driven by the sublime play of Sid the Kid. Rumors of his demise were obviously greatly exaggerated. Either due to better health, comfort in Sullivan's system or movement back to the norm for him, Crosby has been on fire. Crosby is on a career-best, seven-game goal-scoring during which he has lit the lamp 10 times. In addition, he had 12 goals and 10 assists in his current 11-game point streak, moving his season marks to 24 and 29, respectively, and fifth in the league in scoring.

New York will see a familiar face Wednesday, as Carl Hagelin is now a Penguin. Traded this offseason for the since departed Emerson Etem and pick used to select Ryan Gropp due to cap concerns, Hagelin came to Pittsburgh for David Perron. The trade has been beneficial to both sides with Pittsburgh getting a second line winger who brings speed, a strong forecheck and excellent penalty killing ability. In addition, Hags has said he will be sharing some 'secrets' above the Rangers with his new teammates.

As noted above, Wednesday is the first of four match ups between the two teams. The Metro, behind Washington, is a logjam with four teams (NYR, NYI, Pit and NJD) within four points of each other. Only two of the four will earn automatic playoff berths, making each one of these divisional games take on even more importance. The other three teams all have games in hand on New York, so winning and expanding the gap compared to the other teams in these possible four-point swing games will be a major focus down the stretch.

The Rangers have been led by their newly formed top line. As Sean Hartnett wrote, the Miller-Brassard-Fast line has accounted for 23 points (10 goals, 13 assists) over the past seven games overall, with every member of the line recording at least six points. The settling and performance of that line enabled AV to form the second and third lines that NY have utilized recently. When Nash returns, another shuffle will occur, but it might mean that Kreider rather Fast ends up on a line with Hayes, though that remains to be seen.

New York is 9-4-1 in their last 14 games, no thanks to the moribund power play. They finished 0-for-5 against the Devils on Monday and are just 2-for-49 over their last 17 games. Eventually this will catch up with them, as chances to get easier goals must be capitalized on, or at least, not blown seemingly all the time.

With Christian Ehrhoff placed on waivers by LA, speculation is already rampant that this is a move by he Kings to clear room for Keith Yandle. Plus, analysis as to if Ehrhoff would be a good fit has already started. On the first sentence, my view on not dealing Yandle has bee stated over and over and not changing my tune now. On the second, Adam Herman pointed out that Ehrhoff had his two best years under AV, but that seems like light years ago. But he does play the left side, where NY has an opening now due to McDonagh's injury, and his $1.5 mil cap hit could be absorbed, though that would limit what the Rangers could do at the deadline. If Mac will miss substantive time, then I could see going for Ehrhoff, if not, only if you are dealing Yandle and need the depth would I say acquire him if possible.

Tonight will be a match up of two teams that like to use their speed to generate chances. Sullivan has revamped Pittsburgh stylistically, aided by Crosby's resurgence as well as the top shelf play of Kris Letang. We all know how AV likes to the team to play. It should be an exciting and fun game to watch, especially if the correct team wins.

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