The Rangers fresh off their 2-1 shoutout win on Tuesday over the Panthers that upped their mark at the midway point to 19-18-2 continue their five-game road trip in Pittsburgh on Friday. New York has won two in a row and four out of their last five while the Penguins come in off a loss but are 8-2 in their last 10 and lead the Metro Division by 13 points over the Capitals. The last time these two teams met, Pittsburgh won 4-3 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden on December 18; a game in which the Rangers made a furious third period comeback to rally from 3-1 down to get the point.
There are two interesting subplots to tonight's game, the first being the return of captain Ryan Callahan, who had been sidelined since December 10 with a Grade 2 MCL sprain in his left knee, and the second, the claiming of Taylor Pyatt off waivers by Pittsburgh yesterday. Callahan saw time in the pre-game on the third line with Hagelin and Miller in place of Pouliot, which to me made no sense. But, Pouliot saw time on the first power play unit and will remain in the lineup. The lines are I thought they might be and as I wrote the past few days, playing Callahan on the second line, shifting Brassard down to third line center and sitting Miller, since there was no way to sit Pouliot given how hot he has been lately.
The claiming of Pyatt makes sense for Pittsburgh due to all the injuries they have. Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang are out again today and when you add in the season-ending injury to Pascal Dupuis and current absence of Beau Bennett, the Penguins are really shorthanded. Of course, the first thing all of us thought was that Pyatt would now become the 2014 version of Rob Brown and score 20-25 goals in a half of season alongside Crosby with Dupuis out. Hate seeing Pyatt end up there but glad that he landed in the NHL rather than getting sent down to Hartford.
Darren Dreger reported today, with the Rangers in Toronto tomorrow to take on the Maple Leafs, it’s expected that Rangers management will meet with Newport Sports, the agents for Michael Del Zotto, to discuss the Rangers “continued efforts… to trade Del Zotto, who will be a healthy scratch for the second straight game and ninth time this season Friday. The latest rumor has the Rangers, who have about $2.6 million in cap room following the return of Callahan and claiming of Pyatt, interested in making a deal with Ottawa, but the player they may want back at too high a salary. The only player to me that could fall in that category of too high a salary who I could the Rangers having some interest in, though I really don't, is Milan Michalek. The other is Marc Methot, who I would love, but wonder if the call up of Conor Allen reduces that possibility. There is no way Turris or MacArthur would be available, so I think Methot is who the Rangers are targeting.
Projected lines:
Chris Kreider-Derek Stepan-Rick Nash Ryan Callahan-Brad Richards-Mats Zuccarello Carl Hagelin-Derick Brassard-Benoit Pouliot Brian Boyle-Dominic Moore-Derek Dorsett.
Ryan McDonagh-Dan Girardi Marc Staal-Anton Stralman John Moore-Conor Allen (though he could move up to play with Staal)
Henrik Lundqvist
The projected lines for Pittsburgh, from Ryan Wilson's Penguins preview, are:
Kunitz-Crosby-Neal Jokinen-Sutter-Gibbons Pyatt-Vitale- Adams Glass-Sill-Kobasew
Orpik-Despres Scuderi-Bortuzzo Maatta-Niskanen
1st PP Unit
Kunitz-Crosby-Neal Jokinen-Niskanen
Following tonight's game, the Rangers head to Toronto to take on the Maple Leafs and finish the five-game road trip.