Penguins’ Five-Goal Second Period Smothers Rangers

Beginning tonight at PPG Paints Arena, the New York Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins, the top two teams in the Metropolitan Division, open up an intriguing home and home set which concludes Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.

This is a proud Penguins team which takes this rivalry with the Rangers extremely seriously. In his career against the Rangers, Murray is 4-0-0, has a 1.25 goals against average and has a.953 save percentage.

He couldn’t seem to decide whether he was more impressed by the Penguins’ five-goal rampage in the second period or by them holding the Rangers without a shot for more than 16 minutes to start the third. I have to side with the offense here and back the Rangers at home. P.K. Subban scored twice in the second period, Viktor Arvidsson also tallied and Ryan Ellis collected three assists as the Predators handed the Lightning their only defeat in a five-game road trip. They have 14 players with at least 10 points, and Michael Grabner sits just behind Crosby and Laine with 11 goals.

They found it within themselves to raise their play to a level it rarely, if ever, had reached in the previous 19 games. Stepan clinched the game with an empty-netter and NY headed home with a 5-2 win. “Just an avalanche we couldn’t stop”.

“We gave them some chances”, Marc Staal said. But it all unraveled quickly in the second period. But we can find out more by looking at the latest National Hockey League power rankings, which see the same team on top and a new team at the bottom. Raanta was outstanding, recording 29 saves.

“This is a dream come true right now, so I’ve just got to make the most of the opportunity and try and enjoy it as much as I can”, Guentzel said.

Raanta was excellent Monday after allowing a soft early goal, so much so that Alain Vigneault was asked after that game if he decided on Wednesday’s goaltender.

“Every coach says it in these moments, it’s an opportunity for somebody else to get more ice time”, Vigneault said. “I know that, I think everybody knows that”.

Rangers: Play at Philadelphia on Friday night. However, the Rangers have been an offensive machine all season long and the Penguins have yet to win a game this season when scoring less than three goals. “They are good team and when you do play the really good teams and you get away from your game plan, personally, as a player or as a group, it’s going to be a tough night”. In three years at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, Guentzel was a 1.10 point per game player. We got everybody involved.

NOTES: Pittsburgh placed LW Chris Kunitz (lower body) on injured reserve. When facing NY in last year’s playoffs, Murray turned in a standout performance that kept the Penguins churning to the next round. Penguins LW Tom Sestito and D Steve Oleksy were healthy scratches. Puempel did not play Monday, and it is not clear whether he will join NY or be given a minor league assignment.