For the third straight season it is going to be the Pittsburgh Penguins facing off against the New York Rangers. The series will begin Wednesday night at 8 PM.
The New York Islanders appeared to have no interest in passing the Rangers in the standings. Against the Sabres the other night the Islanders did not put out John Tavares or Kyle Okposo in the overtime session. Tonight they did this:
Capuano: Greiss will start, no Tavares, no Nielsen, no Okposo, no Boychuk. Martin, Clutterbuck in. Call-ups as well. Greiss won't finish gm.
— Arthur Staple (@StapeNewsday) April 10, 2016
The Islanders will now face the Panthers and not the Penguins after losing to Philadelphia. They will actually start that series with Game 1 on Thursday and Game 2 on Friday, woof.
There will be more in-depth breakdowns coming in the next few days on Penguins/Rangers but here is a quick overall synopsis.
The first two seasons saw a series where the Rangers were the better team. Pittsburgh’s depth was not up to the task and when they were Henrik Lundqvist stood tall. The third installment is looking like Pittsburgh is the better team heading into the matchup. The Penguins have been the best possession team in the Eastern Conference leading up to the playoffs while the Rangers have been one of the worst.
Goaltending is going to play a huge role in this series. For the Rangers to win Henrik Lundqvist is going to have to stand on his head (he can). For Pittsburgh who the hell is going to play goal? Right now the Penguins top two netminders are out with concussion like symptoms which leaves Jeff Zatkoff as the guy in charge. It remains to be seen if Fleury and Murray can’t go but limping into the playoffs with head injuries isn’t how the team drew it up. Pittsburgh just needs to get average goaltending from whoever is in goal because their shot differentials should be enough to earn victory in this series.
Just asked GMJR if Zatkoff and Jarry will be the goalies for Game 1. His response: "Too early to tell."
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_PGH) April 10, 2016
There are other injuries at play for both teams. The biggest non-goaltender injury for the Penguins is Evgeni Malkin. There are reports saying he could be ready at some point in round one. Pittsburgh is also missing Olli Maatta and Bryan Rust.
The Rangers are missing one of their best players in Ryan McDonagh and this is not good. New York has struggled to drive play with McDonagh in the lineup and without him this task is only going to get harder.
NYR-PIT history:
— Rangers Report (@rangersreport) April 11, 2016
'89 4-0 PIT
'92 4-2 PIT
'96 4-1 PIT
'08 4-1 PIT
'14 4-3 NYR
'15 4-1 NYR
Either PIT is gonna mercilessly blitz NYR or Lundqvist is gonna stop 78 shots a game and PIT will blame *spins wheel of scapegoats*
— Travis Yost (@travisyost) April 11, 2016
Thanks for reading!