A preview of the Rangers.
Record: 23-14-3, 49 points (After being in first place for most of the season in the Atlantic Division, the Rangers have fallen to third place behind Philadelphia and New Jersey.)
Leading Scorer: Nikolai Zherdev, 35 points (12 goals, 23 assists).
Last Game: 2-1 loss at Washington, Saturday. Stephen Valiquette made 29 saves in the loss while Petr Prucha (above) scored New York's only goal.
Last Game against the Penguins: 3-2 home shootout win, Dec. 3, 2008. Zherdev, Markus Nasland and Fredrik Sjostrom scored goals in the shootout for New York.
Rangers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Prucha. He has scored 33.3 percent of his goals this season against the Penguins. Granted he's only scored three goals overall this season but still, are you going to argue with those numbers?
Ex-Penguins on the Rangers: Markus Naslund, LW; Michal Roszival, D; Glen Sather
general manager; Rick Kehoe, professional scout..
Ex-Rangers on the Penguins: Pascal Dupuis, RW; Petr Sykora, RW; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.
Useless Rangers Trivia: The two highest single-season rookie goal totals in Rangers history are owned by guys named Tony. Tony Granato scored 36 in 1988-89 while Tony Amonte had 33 in 1991-92.
Best Rangers YouTube Video We Could Find: Former Penguins forward Matthew Barnaby, then with the Sabres, almost starting a pre-game brawl with the Rangers several years ago:
Notes:
-Marc-Andre Fleury and Henrik Lundqvist are your starting goaltenders. Lundqvist sat out Saturday's game due to an illness.
-Today's glass is half-full news: The Rangers' penalty killing units have been struggling.
-Today's glass is half-empty news: The Penguins have lost their last seven regular season games in Madison Square Garden. Their last regular season road win against the Rangers was a 4-3 shootout victory March 1, 2007. Sidney Crosby scored the only shootout goal. Colby Armstrong had a goal and an assist in regulation.
-Rangers coach Tom Renney has been "Therriening" with his lines.
-Tonight's game is on Versus. So you'll need to go to your mom's friend's sister's co-worker's dog-groomer's house to watch it.
-Our live blog begins at approximately 7 p.m. Please tune in.
(Photo: Luis M. Alvarez/Associated Press)
Posted
Jan 05 2009, 03:00 AM
by
Seth Rorabaugh
Filed under: New Jersey Devils, Pascal Dupuis, Pittsburgh Penguins, Philadelphia Flyers, Washington Capitals, New York Rangers, Buffalo Sabres, Nikolai Zherdev, Sidney Crosby, Marc-Andre Fleury, Markus Naslund, Michel Therrien, Colby Armstrong, Petr Sykora, Matthew Barnaby, Versus, Michal Roszival, Tony Granato, Petr Prucha, Kevin Stevens, Rick Kehoe, Tom Renney, Glen Sather, Henrik Lundqvist, Stephen Valiquette, Tony Amonte, Fredrik Sjostrom, Madison Square Garden