Rangers Play Important Back-to-Back

With the Rangers in a chaotic wild card hunt, the Blueshirts begin a crucial back-to-back starting against the injured Penguins (7PM on MSG).

Rangers	Rankings	Penguins
26-23-4	Record	22-24-9
21st	League Rank	26th
14th	Goals For	17th
21st	Goals Against	31st
19th	Power play	6th
7th	Penalty Kill	17th

The Blueshirts are currently on a two-game win streak after third period comebacks against both the Golden Knights and Bruins
- J.T. Miller has four points in three games since rejoining the Rangers via trade
The big news entering the game is that the Penguins will be without both of their superstar forwards in Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
- Crosby is currently day-to-day with an upper-body injury. Friday night will end a 229 consecutive game streak for the Penguins captain
- Malkin is currently week-to-week with a lower-body injury.
- This will mark the first time since early into the 2021-2022 season that the Penguins will play without both Crosby and Malkin
With the Rangers being the home team and getting the last change, the injuries should create some mismatches for the Blueshirts especially in the top-six. Players such as Artemi Panarin, Alexis Lafreniere, etc. should be able to create an abundance of opportunities to score.
- The Penguins allow the fourth-highest shots against per game
- The Penguins also own the second-highest goals-against per game in the NHL
Alex Nedeljkovic will get the start in goal for the Penguins. Nedeljkovic is 11-9-5 with an .899 save percentage and a 2.97 goals-against average.
- The backup goaltender is Joel Blomqvist. Tristan Jarry was placed on waivers three weeks ago and he is now in the AHL for Pittsburgh.
Rickard Rakell leads the Penguins among healthy players with 46 points in 54 games. Crosby leads the team with 58 points in 55 games
Igor Shesterkin will start in goal for the Rangers. With Shesterkin starting on Friday night, expect to see Jonathan Quick in goal for a crucial game in Columbus against the Blue Jackets
With a win against the Penguins, the Rangers could find themselves three points outside the last wild card position and open the gap to five points between themselves and Pittsburgh. And if the Rangers could sweep the back-to-back, they will find themselves with an opportunity to get ready to pounce. But it starts with a win against a Penguins team they simply have to beat without their two best forwards
Urho Vaakanainen remains out of the lineup with an illness