It feels like a week even though it has only been since Saturday when these two teams last played. Game 3 of the Penguins/Rangers series will resume action tonight. The series is tied at one game apiece with the Rangers getting the better of the play.
It is only a two game sample but the Rangers have clear advantages in some major categories
The possession one is surprising. The goaltending one not so much. A lot of New York’s early success in the season was fueled by a great shooting percentage. So far they have been doing a very nice job on that front.
If Pittsburgh can’t make a dent in these categories then they aren’t going to like the end result. Sometimes you can win a series on PDO. Sometimes you can win with over the top possession numbers. It is impossible to do so if you can’t breakthrough in either department.
The big news this morning from the Rangers side of things is the likelihood of Ryan McDonagh making his return to the lineup.
Diaz and McDonagh join McIlrath, Hrivik, Girardi, Lindberg, Raanta and Hellberg on the ice for the "extras skate." One of those D will play.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) April 19, 2016
Based on what I saw this AM, McIlrath still will take warmups but McDonagh will play (unless he has a setback). Won't know for sure til then
— Pat Leonard (@PLeonardNYDN) April 19, 2016
This is very important for the New York Rangers. He is their best defenseman and the team drives play better when he is on the ice. In 2015-16 the Rangers have an even-strength Fenwick For percentage of 49.6% when McDonagh is on the ice versus 47.1% when he is not on the ice. This doesn’t seem like a lot but when you consider the fact that McDonagh’s most common linemate (645 minutes) was Dan Girardi it becomes more impressive. Girardi’s negative impact on McDonagh is incredibly strong.
Ryan McDonagh returning to the Rangers lineup without Dan Girardi is not an ideal situation for the Pittsburgh Penguins considering they have struggled to control play in this series without McDonagh playing.
On the Penguins side of things we have some more goalie updates.
FWIW (not much), Matt Murray is in the net that the Penguins will defend twice. BUT, so was Fleury during the morning skate before Game 1.
— Dan Rosen (@drosennhl) April 19, 2016
Matt Murray is available tonight according to Mike Sullivan. It remains to be seen if he is taking part in more gamesmanship or if Murray will actually start. Jeff Zatkoff was the first goalie off the ice at practice today. Again, I have no idea what to believe after how Mike Sullivan handled the goalie situation before Game 1. He’s certainly created an aura of mystery which is more than likely what he wanted to do.
Marc-Andre Fleury was not at practice and is not playing tonight according to Mike Sullivan. He is still “day to day….
In other injury news it was Olli Maatta who stayed on for extra work at the morning skate and Justin Schultz who got off early. This usually indicates that Schultz will play while Maatta will sit. Olli Maatta has not been good so far in this series and it is most definitely related to a prior injury. Pittsburgh is lucky that they have some defensemen that come jump into the lineup this year unlike last year when it felt like everybody was injured.
Edit 2:15 PM: Wow, I misread the original tweet. It was Maatta who was off the ice early with Schultz staying on for the extra work. That doesn't change the latter portion of the above paragraph. Maatta is nursing an injury that is negatively impacting his ability to move around the ice and the Penguins defense depth is much better this year than it was last year against the Rangers.
Evgeni Malkin claims that his game has come back and that he is able to take faceoffs. Look for him to play more at center in Game 3. Just get him his 20 minutes.
The team that wins tonight will be feeling pretty good about themselves. The loser will need to win three out of four games to move on.
Thanks for reading!