Firmly entrenched in the No. 1 wild card spot, the New York Rangers look to build momentum when the Pittsburgh Penguins invade MSG.
- New York Rangers (46-26-5, 97 pts)
- Pittsburgh Penguins (46-19-11, 103 pts)
- NHL, Friday, Mar. 31, 7 p.m. ET, MSG Network
- Madison Square Garden, New York, NY
As far as tests go, it doesn’t get much tougher than this. Not only are the New York Rangers in a major rut — 3-4-1 in their last 10 — but they simply cannot win on home ice.
In come the Pittsburgh Penguins for a Friday night affair at Madison Square Garden.
Chris Kreider spoke about his team’s recent inconsistencies, via Stats LLC.
“Our process needs to be better,” New York left winger Chris Kreider said to the Daily News. “It needs to be the duration of the game, everyone. It can’t just be a handful of guys every night. If you’re gonna win in the playoffs, everyone’s got to step up, and every single night a different group or someone needs to raise their game even more. If you have an off night, it can’t be a ‘C’ or ‘D’ game.”
Quite similarly to the Rangers, the Penguins are also struggling. They were destroyed by the score of 5-1 by the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday night, their fourth straight loss. With 103 points on the season, they remain six clear of the Rangers for the final wild-card spot in the East and at this point, it’s a foregone conclusion that New York will visit Montreal to kick off the Stanley Cup Playoffs.
Despite being locked into their tournament fate, Robert Villa discusses how now is the time to get things rolling.
While J.T. Miller tallied two goals in the Rangers playoff-clinching overtime loss to the San Jose Sharks on Tuesday night, things weren’t all fun and games. Alain Vigneault demoted Miller to the fourth line to start the game and he spoke about it, via Justin Tasch of the New York Daily News.
Brian Heyman of Newsday discusses how the Rangers must find consistency now if they want to avoid another early playoff exit.
Brett Cyrgalis of the New York Post is all over Henrik Lundqvist, remaining firm that he’s the key moving forward.
Opening puck drop comes your way at 7 p.m. ET and can be seen on MSG Network.