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Monday, 15 November 2010 10:00

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Rangers.

When and where: 7 p.m., Consol Energy Center.

TV: FSN Pittsburgh, MSG.

Record: 9-7-1, 19 points. The Rangers are in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and second place in the Atlantic Division.

Leading Scorer: Brandon Dubinsky, 15 points (10 goals, 5 assists).

Last Game: 8-2 home win against the Oilers, yesterday. Marian Gaborik had a hat trick and one assist for the Rangers.

Last Game against the Penguins: 5-4 home overtime loss, March 4. Evgeni Malkin scored in overtime for the Penguins.

Rangers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Ruslan Fedotenko (above). He has a three-game scoring streak against the Penguins which obviously was dormant for the past two seasons.

Ex-Penguins on the Rangers: Erik Christensen, C; Ruslan Fedotenko, LW; Rick Kehoe, professional scout; Michal Rozsival, D.

Ex-Rangers on the Penguins: Phil Bourque, broadcaster; Pascal Dupuis, RW; Bob Errey, broadcaster; Tony Granato, assistant coach; Kevin Stevens, professional scout.

Useless Rangers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Former Penguins forward Tomas Sandstrom holds the Rangers single-season record for hat tricks. He had four in 1987-88.

Best Rangers Video We Could Find: Former Penguins defenseman Ulf Samuelsson, then of the Rangers, accidently knocking out Janet Jones-Gretzky, the wife of Rangers forward Wayne Gretzky, with a piece of the glass:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (3-6-0, 3.09 GAA, .872 SV%) for the Penguins and Henrik Lundqvist (6-5-1, 2.68 GAA, .918 SV%) for the Rangers.

Injuries: For the Penguins, forward Jordan Staal (hand) and defenseman Alex Grant (wrist) are on injured reserve. For the Rangers, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist (illness) is day to day. Defenseman Michal Rozsival (shoulder) is out. Forwards Chris Drury (finger) and Vaclav Prospal (knee) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings:

-The Penguins' primary lines and defensive pairings in Saturday's game against the Thrashers were:

Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Pascal Dupuis
Matt Cooke - Evgeni Malkin - Arron Asham
Chris Conner - Mark Letestu - Tyler Kennedy
Mike Rupp - Maxime Talbot - Craig Adams

Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Alex Goligoski - Deryk Engelland

-The Rangers' primary lines and defensive pairings in yesterday's game against the Oilers were:

Alex Frolov - Erik Christensen - Marian Gaborik
Brandon Dubinsky - Artem Anisimov - Ryan Callahan
Ruslan Fedotenko - Brian Boyle - Brandon Prust
Sean Avery - Derek Stepan - Derek Boogaard

Marc Staal - Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto - Steve Eminger
Matt Gilroy - Mike Sauer

Notes:

-"I think we've just battled ourselves into a playoff spot, and we want to get this thing going. We're starting to play some good hockey." - Arron Asham.

-Yesterday's Oilers-Rangers games featured a third period brawl involving Sean Avery (surprise) and 148 total penalty minutes:

-Our live blog begins at approximately 6 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Nick Laham/Getty Images)

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