Penguins at Rangers
The Pittsburgh Penguins will have to battle their way into the playoffs without the help of second-leading scorer Evgeni Malkin. The team announced Saturday that the All-Star forward would miss the next six-to-eight weeks with an upper-body injury as they prepared ahead of Sunday’s matinee matchup with the host New York Rangers.
Malkin suffered the injury Friday in Pittsburgh’s 3-2 victory over Columbus after notching a pair of assists to give him 58 points in 57 games this season. The Penguins have split six games this month and stand two points clear of red-hot Philadelphia for the final wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference with 15 contests to go, while the Rangers stand in second place in the Metropolitan Division. The Rangers got forward Rick Nash, defenseman Marc Staal and goalie Henrik Lundqvist back from injuries Saturday before coughing up a late lead in a 3-2 overtime loss at Detroit. Lundqvist made 36 saves after missing three games since suffering neck spasms against Pittsburgh on March 3 in a 4-1 loss, and could start back-to-back.
TV: 12:30 p.m. ET, NBC
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (35-24-8): Captain Sidney Crosby has put together a seven-game point streak that includes three goals and eight assists to lead the team with 67 points. Defenseman Kris Letang has goals in two consecutive games to push his career-high total to 13 and has 52 points – six behind Malkin and seven ahead of Phil Kessel (seven points, eight games). Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (28-16-6, five shutouts) notched his 350th victory Friday and is three behind Evgeni Nabokov for 19th in NHL history.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (39-22-7): Nash (knee) was back in the lineup for the first time since Jan. 22 and registered two shots on goal in 17:12 of ice time while second-leading scorer Derick Brassard missed Saturday’s game due to illness and is day-to-day. Chris Kreider registered a goal and an assist after being blanked in three straight games and the Rangers also got a tally from Derek Stepan, who posted five points in the last four games. Mats Zuccarello notched a pair of assists Saturday and leads the team with 53 points.
OVERTIME
1. Pittsburgh LW Chris Kunitz, who is slated to play his 799th career game, is among the league leaders with a plus-28 rating.
2. New York D Keith Yandle leads the team with 34 assists and boasts a four-game point streak.
3. The Penguins recalled Fs Dominik Simon and Conor Sheary from the American Hockey League Saturday with Malkin out.