The Pittsburgh Penguins will host the New York Rangers in a Sunday matinee at 12:30 this afternoon. The game will be nationally broadcast on NBC and kick off the network’s regular-season hockey schedule.
It’s only the second early-afternoon contest for the Penguins so far this season. They beat the Ottawa Senators in a 1:00 p.m. game in early December. The Penguins will play in the early afternoon five more times this season.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: This will be the fourth and final meeting between the Penguins and Rangers this season. The Penguins are 1-1-1 against the Rangers in the three previous contests.
The Rangers are wrapping up a three-games-in-four-nights road trip that saw them get shutout in Boston on Thursday before beating the Columbus Blue Jackets 2-1 on Friday.
Henrik Lundqvist is expected to start for the Blueshirts. He has a 21-9-3 record in 33 games this season with a .919 save percentage and a 2.27 goals-against average. In his career against the Penguins, he is 27-19-8 with a .916 save percentage and a 2.29 goals-against average.
Leading the Rangers in scoring is veteran forward Rick Nash. In 42 games, Nash is second in the NHL with 26 goals and also has 15 assists.
METRO PROBLEMS: Despite being in second place in the Metropolitan Division, the Penguins have an abysmal 6-7-3 record against division opponents. If the Penguins problems continue into the spring, they could be in trouble, as their road to the Stanley Cup will probably take them through two divisional foes.
“Our division is a big focus for us,” said Penguins head coach Mike Johnston. “You look at how the teams have played within the division: the Islanders have played really well this year, the Rangers have had a good streak lately. There are a lot of quality teams within our division.”
This is the second straight division game for the Pens and three of their next five games will also be within the division.
IRON MAN: This will only be the Penguins seventh game in the month of January. The slow schedule, and lack of back-to-back games, has allowed Penguins head coach Mike Johnston to heavily rely on his starting goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury.
Tonight will be Fleury’s sixth straight game and 14th of the team’s last 15 games. Fleury’s numbers have continued to dip since the calendar changed to 2015, and Friday night’s 6-3 loss on Long Island didn’t help matters.
In his last five games, Fleury is 2-2-1 with a .901 save percentage and a 2.95 goals-against average, compared to his season-long figures of .915 and 2.40.
MINOR MATTERS: Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (20-16-4, 2nd AHL East) lost 4-0 in Worcester on Saturday. The Penguins have now lost five straight games and have fallen out of first place for the first time in months. They travel to Providence to take on the Bruins this afternoon at 3:05 p.m.
The Wheeling Nailers (18-17, 4th ECHL North) won the first two games of their three-game series in Brampton, Ontario, 5-2 on Friday and 7-2 on Saturday. Eric Hartzell earned both wins in goal. The teams will meet again this afternoon at 2:00 p.m.
#CAWLIDGEHAWKEY: Robert Morris (15-5-4, 1st AHC) swept American International this weekend, winning 5-3 on Friday and 9-4 on Saturday. In Saturday’s win, Cody Wydo became the Colonial’s all-team leading scorer.
Penn State (11-7-3, 1st Big Ten) tied Michigan State on Friday 2-2 but lost in the shootout for the extra point. The Nittany Lions exacted revenge on the Spartans on Saturday with a 5-2 victory.
