The speedyNew York Rangers will take their act to The Igloo in anticipation of taking on Sidney Crosby and the Pittsburgh Penguins.
- New York Rangers (13-5-1, 27 pts)
- Pittsburgh Penguins (11-4-3, 25 pts)
- NHL, Monday, Nov. 21, 7 p.m. ET, MSG
- The Igloo, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
If there are two faster teams in the NHL, Gary Bettman must have them in storage. The New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins are, arguably, the two quickest and most dangerous offensive teams in all the land.
That’s why Mondy night’s matchup feels so right.
New York enters the game ranked first in the league in goal scoring (4 goals per contest) while Pittsburgh comes in ninth (2.83). Players like Sidney Crosby, Chris Kreider, Evgeni Malkin, Michael Grabner, Carl Hagelin, and Mats Zuccarello are absolute burners.
Making matters even more interesting is the backdrop from a season ago when the Blueshirts were embarrassingly ousted by Mike Sullivan‘s club in a swift five-game fashion.
Antti Raanta is expected to make the start on this second night of a back-to-back for the Rangers. (They fell in a shootout against the Florida Panthers on Sunday night.)
Head coach Alain Vigneault has the utmost confidence, via Associated Press.
“I’m not worried at all about Antti,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told the New York Post recently about Raanta. “We know he’s always going to give us a chance to win.”
Crosby enters with 12 goals on the season in just 12 games played. The Rangers goal-scoring version of Crosby — up until this point, at least — has been Grabner who’s also netted 12 goals, all coming by way of the even strength variety.
The Pens are coming off a 1-1-1 road trip that has them still trailing the Rangers by two points in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers are coming off their first two-game losing streak of the season.
Monday night will mark the first game New York is forced to play without second-line center Mika Zibanejad who broke his fibula in overtime against the Rats on an awkward fall into the boards.
First puck drop from The Igloo will come your way at 7 p.m. ET on MSG Network.