RANGERS (30-18-5) at PENGUINS (27-18-7)
TV: 8 p.m. ET, NBCSN
PITTSBURGH - Center Evgeni Malkin will miss his fourth straight game when the Pittsburgh Penguins face the New York Rangers Wednesday at Consol Energy Center.
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said Tuesday that Malkin's lingering lower-body injury will keep him out for at least another week. He confirmed Malkin would not travel for a road trip at the Carolina Hurricanes on Friday and the Florida Panthers on Monday.
Pittsburgh, which held an optional morning skate Wednesday, has won its past two games without Malkin, 3-2 in overtime against Florida on Saturday and 6-2 against the Anaheim Ducks on Monday, so its lineup shouldn't alter much. Matt Cullen is expected to center the second line for a fourth time between left wing Carl Hagelin and right wing Phil Kessel.
"When you've got a guy like [Malkin] out, it's a big hole to fill and no one person can fill it," Cullen said. "He's such a unique player. So, as a group we need to hold it together. I think we have enough guys playing well that hopefully, as a team, we can fill that hole like we have here."
Hagelin will face his former team for the second time this season, and the first time with the Penguins. In Game 5 of New York's Eastern Conference First Round series win against Pittsburgh in the Stanley Cup Playoffs last season, Hagelin scored the series-clinching goal 10:52 into overtime.
"Tonight is like any other night," Hagelin said. "There are small things that I know that I can let my teammates know about."
The Rangers will try to defeat Hagelin and the Penguins without their captain, Ryan McDonagh, who missed their 2-1 win against the New Jersey Devils on Monday with a concussion, and forward Rick Nash, who hasn't played since Jan. 22 because of a bone bruise in his left leg.
New York didn't hold a morning skate Wednesday, so any changes to its lineup remain unknown.
The Rangers have won four of their past six games, including three straight, since Nash's injury. New York is second in the Metropolitan division, three points ahead of the New York Islanders and four ahead of Pittsburgh.
Forward J.T. Miller has picked up the slack in Nash's absence, scoring five goals in six games since Jan. 22. Miller scored the game-deciding goal 4:37 into the third period against the New Jersey Devils on Monday.
"I had a little bit of experience with J.T when he was just a young player," said Sullivan, a former Rangers assistant coach. "He's obviously a very good player. We recognized that when we coached him as a young player. … As he's maturing, he's figuring out how to be successful in this League."
Here are the projected lineups:
RANGERS
J.T. Miller - Derick Brassard - Jesper Fast
Chris Kreider - Derek Stepan - Mats Zuccarello
Oscar Lindberg - Kevin Hayes - Viktor Stalberg
Tanner Glass - Dominic Moore - Daniel Paille
Keith Yandle - Dan Girardi
Marc Staal - Kevin Klein
Dan Boyle - Dylan McIlrath
Henrik Lundqvist
Antti Raanta
Injured: Rick Nash (bone bruise), Ryan McDonagh (concussion)
Scratched: None
PENGUINS
Chris Kunitz - Sidney Crosby - Patric Hornqvist
Carl Hagelin - Matt Cullen - Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl - Oskar Sundqvist - Bryan Rust
Scott Wilson - Kevin Porter - Conor Sheary
Olli Maatta - Kris Letang
Trevor Daley - Brian Dumoulin
Ben Lovejoy - Derrick Pouliot
Marc-Andre Fleury
Jeff Zatkoff
Injured: Evgeni Malkin (lower body), Beau Bennett (upper body), Nick Bonino (hand), David Warsofsky (concussion), Eric Fehr (lower body)
Scratched: Sergei Plotnikov, Ian Cole
Status report: Sullivan did not provide an update on Bennett's status Tuesday. Bennett has played one game since Dec. 14 because of an upper-body injury. … New York assigned former Penguins forward Jayson Megna to Hartford of the American Hockey League on Feb. 5.
Who's hot: Crosby continued one of the most impressive stretches of his career Monday, when he scored four points and two goals against the Ducks. He is sixth in NHL scoring and leads the Penguins with 53 points. … Miller has 10 points and nine goals in his past 10 games.
Wes Crosby- NHL.com
Eastern Conference
ATLANTIC GP W L OTL PTS ROW SOW SOL HOME ROAD GF GA DIFF L10 STRK
Florida 54 32 16 6 70 27 5 1 17-7-3 15-9-3 155 123 +32 6-3-1 Won 1
Tampa Bay 53 29 20 4 62 27 2 3 17-8-2 12-12-2 142 130 +12 7-3-0 Lost 2
Detroit 53 27 18 8 62 26 1 3 13-10-5 14-8-3 134 134 0 5-4-1 Won 2
Boston 53 28 19 6 62 24 4 1 12-14-3 16-5-3 157 147 +10 6-3-1 Lost 1
Montreal 55 27 24 4 58 23 4 1 15-11-2 12-13-2 151 146 +5 4-6-0 Won 3
Ottawa 54 25 23 6 56 21 4 4 14-9-4 11-14-2 157 170 -13 5-5-0 Won 2
Buffalo 54 21 27 6 48 20 1 4 9-16-3 12-11-3 125 150 -25 4-4-2 Lost 3
Toronto 52 19 24 9 47 14 5 5 8-8-7 11-16-2 125 149 -24 3-5-2 Lost 2
METROPOLITAN GP W L OTL PTS ROW SOW SOL HOME ROAD GF GA DIFF L10 STRK
Washington 52 39 9 4 82 36 3 1 20-4-2 19-5-2 174 118 +56 7-2-1 Won 4
NY Rangers 53 30 18 5 65 27 3 2 20-5-2 10-13-3 153 137 +16 7-3-0 Won 3
NY Islanders 52 28 18 6 62 24 4 3 17-8-3 11-10-3 149 132 +17 6-3-1 Won 2
Pittsburgh 52 27 18 7 61 26 1 3 16-7-4 11-11-3 139 135 +4 7-2-1 Won 2
New Jersey 55 27 21 7 61 25 2 6 13-10-4 14-11-3 124 129 -5 6-2-2 Won 1
Carolina 54 24 21 9 57 24 0 2 12-9-5 12-12-4 130 144 -14 5-3-2 Lost 1
Philadelphia 52 23 20 9 55 21 2 5 12-8-6 11-12-3 124 142 -18 4-5-1 Lost 3
Columbus 55 21 28 6 48 18 3 3 9-11-5 12-17-1 140 173 -33 5-3-2 Lost 1
Western Conference
CENTRAL GP W L OTL PTS ROW SOW SOL HOME ROAD GF GA DIFF L10 STRK
Chicago 57 36 17 4 76 35 1 0 21-6-1 15-11-3 159 130 +29 6-4-0 Lost 1
Dallas 54 34 15 5 73 32 2 2 19-7-0 15-8-5 176 147 +29 5-4-1 Won 1
St. Louis 56 30 17 9 69 27 3 4 17-9-4 13-8-5 136 134 +2 5-3-2 Lost 1
Nashville 54 25 21 8 58 23 2 1 14-10-3 11-11-5 141 145 -4 6-4-0 Lost 1
Colorado 56 27 25 4 58 26 1 0 12-13-4 15-12-0 150 155 -5 5-4-1 Lost 4
Minnesota 53 23 20 10 56 23 0 2 14-8-4 9-12-6 130 132 -2 1-7-2 Lost 6
Winnipeg 53 24 26 3 51 23 1 2 13-12-1 11-14-2 138 153 -15 5-5-0 Won 2
PACIFIC GP W L OTL PTS ROW SOW SOL HOME ROAD GF GA DIFF L10 STRK
Los Angeles 52 32 17 3 67 30 2 2 15-10-1 17-7-2 146 121 +25 5-5-0 Won 1
San Jose 52 28 20 4 60 26 2 1 10-12-2 18-8-2 151 139 +12 6-2-2 Won 1
Anaheim 52 26 19 7 59 24 2 2 16-8-4 10-11-3 119 124 -5 8-2-0 Won 1
Arizona 52 24 22 6 54 23 1 1 13-10-4 11-12-2 139 162 -23 2-6-2 Lost 4
Vancouver 53 21 20 12 54 17 4 3 9-10-5 12-10-7 127 146 -19 4-4-2 Won 1
Calgary 52 24 25 3 51 23 1 2 16-11-0 8-14-3 139 153 -14 4-5-1 Won 2
Edmonton 55 21 29 5 47 17 4 1 14-10-1 7-19-4 137 167 -30 4-6-0 Lost 3
Hyped for this one. Hate the 8 pm starts. Malkin out again. Starting to be very frustrating. Let's Go Pens!
LGP!
I don't like these "Rivalry Night" games. I can't stand Doc Emrick and Edzo. The NBC crew is terrible, too.
I've got the pregame show on the radio. Apparently Kenny Albert is calling the game. NOT Doc & Edzo.
What's up? Let's go Pens. I also hate rivalry night because it steals an hour of sleep from me!
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I can't get over the fact that we didn't play the Rangers or Flyers until so late in the season. Makes for a grueling end to the season.
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Originally Posted by Indiana Pittsburgh Fan
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. ://">://" onclick="kh99_iqts_show('358240_1'); return false;">Show Quote I can't get over the fact that we didn't play the Rangers or Flyers until so late in the season. Makes for a grueling end to the season.
Sent from my LG-H811 using Tapatalk Just the way the scheduling works. I agree it sucks.
Originally Posted by sluggermatt15
This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. ://">://" onclick="kh99_iqts_show('358241_2'); return false;">Show Quote Just the way the scheduling works. I agree it sucks.
They've got to spread it out better IMO.
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Let's get this PP goal.
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Some good pressure.
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