The Pittsburgh Penguins will continue to battle through injuries, and will have a new one to deal with, when the take on the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden tonight at 7 p.m.
Winger Patric Hornqvist will miss his second game in a row and defenseman Olli Maatta will also be absent tonight for the black and gold.
TONIGHT’S OPPONENT: This is the third of four matchups between the Penguins and Rangers this season. The teams 
split the two previous games, with the Rangers winning 5-0 in New York on November 11 and the Penguins tallying a shootout win in Pittsburgh on November 15.
Since the beginning of the 2013-14 season, the teams have played each other 13 times, an amount that has grown the rivalry between the teams. In that span, the Rangers have won seven games, and the Penguins have won six.
“We’ve had two very different games against them,” Penguins head coach Mike Johnston said of the Rangers. “We had a good game in our building, which was the second game of that series, but the first game here … our start wasn’t very good. We’ve got to have a better start in this building. That’s going to be our focus tonight.”
Familiar opponents Henrik Lundqvist and Marc-Andre Fleury will man the nets. Fleury has a 15-4-1 record and a .928 save percentage on the season. Lundqvist has a 9-7-3 record and a .905 save percentage. The goaltenders are first and second in the NHL in shutouts. Fleury has five and Lundqvist has six.
BLACK-AND-BLUELINERS: Maatta did not make the trip to New York with the team. He is in Pittsburgh having an injury re-evaluated. Maatta was injured in Saturday’s 3-2 victory over Ottawa Senators.
Injured defenseman Kris Letang practiced for the first time Monday morning since sustaining a groin injury a week and a half ago. Letang will not play in today’s game and has not yet been fully cleared for contact.
Robert Bortuzzo has completed his two-game suspension and will draw into the lineup. Bortuzzo will be paired with Christian Ehrhoff. The other pairings will remain unchanged.
POWER PLAYERS: The Penguins league-leading power play has slowed down considerably over the last two weeks. The unit is missing Letang, Hornqvist and Chris Kunitz from its early season lineup. The Penguins have scored on only one of their last 15 chances.
“It’s difficult as it when you’ve got lineup that’s used to being together,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “When your throwing new guys in a lot, you just have to keep it simple and execute. When you do get chances, you gotta make sure you put them in.”
UP AND DOWN: Rookie winger Bryan Rust was sent down to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Saturday. Rust did not play in a game during his first career stint in the NHL.
MINOR MATTERS: The Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins (14-9-2, 1st in East) split a home-and-home with Hersey. In Wilkes-Barre on Saturday, Hershey won 2-1. Rust scored the lone goal for WBS after having been sent down earlier in the day. Matt Murray made 27 saves in the loss.
On Sunday, the Penguins won 3-2 in Hershey. Defenseman Derrick Pouliot scored two goals, including the game winner. Winger Bobby Farnham scored his first goal of the season. Jeff Zatkoff made 30 saves for the win. The victory was John Hynes’ 200th in the AHL, all of which have been with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton.
The Wheeling Nailers (11-7, 3rd in North) completed a weekend sweep of the Utah Grizzlies with a 7-3 win Saturday night. Mike Ratchuck scored the game-winning goal in his first game of the season. Ratchuck had missed the first 17 games while recovering from off-season surgery. Morgan Ellis scored two goals and Riley Brace had a goal and two assists.
The Nailers game against the Brampton Beast was postponed on Sunday. The Nailers were unable to travel to Brampton because of transportation issues. No make-up date for the game has been announced. The Nailers will next play when they host the Toledo Walleye on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m.
#CAWLIDGEHAWKEY: The Robert Morris Colonials (10-1-3, 1st AHA) jumped from 20th to 17th in the latest USCHO.com Division-I poll. The Penn State Nittany Lions (9-4-2, 1st Big Ten) were the top vote getter of the teams not ranked in the 20-team poll.
Both teams capped of perfect weekends on Saturday. RMU beat Sacred Heart 8-4. David Friedmann had two goals and two assists. Brady Ferguson and Brandon Denham each had a goal and two assists. The Colonials will travel to Erie for a series against Mercyhurst next weekend.
Penn State beat Wisconsin 4-2. Captain Tommy Olczyk scored the game-winning goal. McKees Rocks native Matt Skoff made 23 saves for the win. Penn State is off until the Three Rivers Classic tournament at Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh on December 29 and 30.
