Penguins at Rangers
The New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins already have punched their ticket for the playoffs, but the Metropolitan Division clubs hardly have the look of a heavyweight contender with their play of late. New York has been knocked around for 11 goals in its last two contests and dropped six of eight overall (2-3-3) heading into Friday's game against the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins, who have lost four in a row (0-2-2) to reside three points behind second-place Columbus.
"I'm extremely disappointed right now. I'm glad we're in, but I want to get the job done," said former Vezina Trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist, who surrendered five goals for the second straight outing in Tuesday's 5-4 overtime loss to San Jose. Coach Alain Vigneault said "The King" will be in his court in four of the five remaining games, but Lundqvist was shredded for four goals on 17 shots before receiving an early exit in a 6-1 setback to Pittsburgh on Nov. 23. Captain Sidney Crosby (NHL-best 42 goals) collected two goals and an assist in that contest and added one more of each over two more encounters this season with the Rangers, but has been limited to just one point during Pittsburgh's losing streak. "I think regardless of previous records, or anything like that, the last couple of games haven't been good enough," the two-time Hart Trophy winner said on Thursday, one day removed from his team's lopsided 5-1 loss to Chicago.
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ROOT (Pittsburgh), SN, MSG 2 (New York), NHL.TV
ABOUT THE PENGUINS (46-19-11): Pittsburgh has been ravaged by injury throughout the season, but the team saw a ray of light Thursday as forward Jake Guentzel (concussion) and defenseman Ron Hainsey (upper body) participated in practice and likely will be game-time decisions versus New York. While coach Mike Sullivan only offered that the two "look promising," forward Patric Hornqvist went a step further and said that the pair is "going to come in with a lot of energy and bring the group a lot of energy, too." Former Hart Trophy winner Evgeni Malkin (shoulder) likely will miss his eighth straight contest for the Penguins, who have suffered 243 man-games lost with defensemen Kris Letang (upper body), Olli Maatta (hand), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body) and Trevor Daley (knee) joining former Ranger Carl Hagelin (lower body) on the sideline.
ABOUT THE RANGERS (46-26-5): Rick Nash has recorded 10 points (six points, four assists) in his last eight regular-season games versus Pittsburgh, with two goals and an assist coming this season. Mats Zuccarello has 10 points (three goals, seven assists) in his last nine games overall, with five (one goal, four assists) coming during a four-game point streak. The 29-year-old Norwegian set up Derek Stepan's power-play goal for New York, which is 10-for-29 with the man advantage over the last 10 games but just 1-for-7 this season versus Pittsburgh.
OVERTIME
1. New York captain Ryan McDonagh (undisclosed) is "looking good" to play against Pittsburgh, Vigneault told reporters on Thursday.
2. Penguins C Matt Cullen, who is a former Ranger, has collected two goals and two assists during his three-game point streak.
3. New York has recorded three goals or more in three straight games and in eight of the last 11.