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Thursday, 19 January 2012 13:14

Written by Seth Rorabaugh

A preview of the Rangers.

When and where: 7 p.m., EST. Madison Square Garden.

TV: Root Sports, MSG, NHL Network (United States, outside the Pittsburgh and New York markets).

Record: 29-11-4, 62 points. The Rangers are in first place in the Eastern Conference and Atlantic Division.

Leading Scorer: Marian Gaborik (right), 36 points (23 goals, 13 assists).

Last Game: 3-0 home win against the Predators, Tuesday. Henrik Lundqvist made 27 saves for the Rangers.

Last Game against the Penguins: 3-1 road win, Jan. 6. Marc-Andre Fleury made 18 saves for the Penguins.

Rangers Player We Would Bet Money On Scoring: Brandon Dubinsky. He has two points in two games against the Penguins.

Ex-Penguins on the Rangers: Ruslan Fedotenko, Rick Kehoe, professional scout; Mike Rupp, C; Glen Sather, general manager.

Ex-Rangers on the Penguins: Pascal Dupuis, RW; Tony Granato, assistant coach.

Useless Rangers Trivia Vaguely Related to the Penguins: Rupp (No. 71) is one of two former Penguins who have worn jersey numbers in the 70s for the Rangers. The other is Joel Bouchard (No. 74).

Best Rangers Video We Could Find: Former Rangers goaltender Mike Richter sharing goaltending stories with Dave Thomas of Wendy's:

Probable goaltenders: Marc-Andre Fleury (22-12-2, 2.23 GAA, .914 SV%) for the Penguins. Henrik Lundqvist (20-9-4, 1.90 GAA, .937 SV%) for the Rangers.

Injuries: For the Penguins, right winger Arron Asham (head) is out. Centers Sidney Crosby (head), Jordan Staal (knee), defensemen Simon Despres (knee), Kris Letang (head) are on injured reserve. For the Rangers, defensemen Steve Eminger (shoulder), Mark Sauer (concussion) and Jeff Woywitka (foot) are on injured reserve.

Potential lines and defensive pairings: The Penguins' lines and defensive pairings at todays' morning skate were:

Chris Kunitz - Evgeni Malkin - James Neal
Pascal Dupuis - Dustin Jeffrey - Tyler Kennedy
Matt Cooke - Richard Park - Steve Sullivan
Eric Tangradi - Joe Vitale - Craig Adams

Kris Letang - Brooks Orpik
Zbynek Michalek - Paul Martin
Deryk Engelland - Matt Niskanen - Ben Lovejoy

-The Rangers had an optional skate today. Their primary lines and defensive pairings against the Predators xx were:

Brandon Dubinsky - Brad Richards - Ryan Callahan
Carl Hagelin - Derek Stepan - Marian Gaborik
Ruslan Fedotenko - Brian Boyle - Brandon Prust
Mike Rupp - Artem Anisimov - John Mitchell

Ryan McDonagh - Dan Girardi
Michael Del Zotto - Anton Stralman
Marc Staal - Stu Bickel

Notes:

-Welcome back Kris Letang.

-"When I get a chance, I just have to go out and play better." - Brent Johnson.

-Asham is dealing with concussion-like symptoms.

-Letang has 148 career points.

-Park has scored 98 career goals.

-Neal has scored 97 career goals.

-Stop us if this sounds familiar. An Atlantic Division team has a really awesome penalty kill but a terrible power play.

-Our live blog begins at approximately 6:45 p.m. Please tune in.

(Photo: Paul Bereswill/Getty Images)

Comments (1)

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written by rochestermark, January 19, 2012 - 04:56 PM

All right Folks.
Tonight is a real test about going to the "next level".
If we lose, it is not the end of the world.
However, can we get past one of the more "elite" teams in the conference and in the league overall?
So far we have not been able to get "over the hump" so to speak.
I recommend hitting the net with shots on goal and throwing junk and bad angle shots at the net. We seem to be a little hot right so lets take advantage of it.
Got the Pens flag flying in the driveway. Cant wait to pull up in my favorite chair to watch the game tonight! (What a geek!!)
Lets go Pens!!!!

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