For the third straight post-season, the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers are set to meet in the playoffs on April 18. The Rangers eliminated the Penguins in both 2014 and 2015, and are 7-1 in the last eight playoff contests between the two. Pittsburgh however enters the first round on a hot streak, losing just twice in their last 16 regular season games, in addition to winning three of four against the Rangers this season.

Pittsburgh Penguins vs New York Rangers First Round Series Preview

Testing their Depth

One of the biggest stories for both clubs heading into the post-season is injuries, specifically injuries to high-profile players.

In Pittsburgh, there is some serious concern between the pipes, as starter Marc-Andre Fleury has been out since March 31, when he suffered his second concussion of the season. To that point, Fleury had been having a very solid campaign, posting a 2.29 GAA and .921 SV% through 58 games and earning himself a place in the Vezina conversation.

However, the injury concerns in net don’t end there for Pittsburgh, as rookie backup Matt Murray, who has been phenomenal through his first 13 NHL games this season, is questionable after he left the final game of the regular season on Saturday with an apparent injury.

Fleury is back at practice, providing some hope, but if neither he or Murray are good to go for game one, we may see Tristan Jarry or Jeff Zatkoff in net for the Penguins in the series opener.

Up front the Penguins will also be without star center Evgeni Malkin, and while his absence hasn’t been felt too strongly over the last month, certainly his return would be a huge boon to the club. However, at this point, a Malkin return may have to wait until the second round, if Pittsburgh gets that far.

The Rangers will have a high-profile player of their own missing for game one, as captain Ryan McDonagh won’t be in the line up. The 26-year-old defenseman is a key piece to New York’s blueline, and more weight will have to be shouldered by the likes of Dan Girardi (who missed practice on Monday but is expected to practice with the team Tuesday), Marc Staal, and Keith Yandle.

Offense vs Defense

The offense of the Penguins versus the defense of the Rangers could very well be the tag line of this series. Since Mike Sullivan took over as Penguins head coach 54 games ago, Pittsburgh has been the top scoring team in the NHL, using a very fast and potent attack to score 3.24 goals per game.

As always the Penguins are lead by captain Sidney Crosby, who would be a popular choice for second-half league MVP, if such an award existed. After a rough start, Crosby turned his season around, scoring 66 points in his final 50 games to finish third in league scoring.

It’s not just the Crosby show in Pittsburgh however, as the team finished with five 5o-point scorers, including defenseman Kris Letang and forwards Phil Kessel, Malkin, and Patric Hornqvist. The club finished 3rd in goals for with 241, behind only Washington and Dallas.

However, while the Penguins are as potent as ever, this season the Rangers were not the same dominant shutdown team they had been in the past. Last year, the President’s Trophy-winning Rangers were 3rd in goals against with just 187. This year? 15th, with 215 against.

For the Rangers to have a chance against the Penguins, they’ll need to find defensive consistency. The buck of course stops with Henrik Lundqvist, who had yet another great season in goal, but the onus will be on the blueline in front of him to limit the shots against (they were 19th in shots against during the regular season, averaging 30.4 a night).

Against the Penguins, the team with the second-best (behind the L.A. Kings) score-adjusted possession numbers at five-on-five (the Rangers were, conversely, 20th in this metric), that situation could be deadly. As the Rangers may have the offensive depth (five 20-goal scorers, 7th in goals for with 233) to hang with the Penguins, limiting chances against will be crucial.

Handling the Pressure

As stated earlier, this will be the third meeting between the two clubs in the last three post-seasons, and both will be under huge pressure to advance to the second round.

In Pittsburgh, that pressure starts with Crosby, who, despite being regularly lauded as the best player on the planet for the past decade, has had a number of detractors crawl out of the woodwork in recent years, particularly as he has garnered just one Stanley Cup in his career – and that was seven years ago. Since that championship in 2009, the Penguins captain has lead his club to just one Eastern Conference Final, in 2013, when Pittsburgh was infamously held to two goals during a four game sweep by the Boston Bruins.

For every year the Penguins fail to get back to the top of the mountain, the whispers of change in Pittsburgh increase. If they fall short of at least a long playoff run this year, those whispers will become a shout.

The Rangers are likewise out to prove they are still contenders in the East. After making it to the Stanley Cup Final in 2014 and winning the President’s Trophy in 2015, the Rangers took a step back this season. The core of the club has gotten another year older, while the shelf life of coach Alain Vigneault has perhaps gotten another year shorter. With a prospect pool ranked 27th by Hockey’s Future, the window is wide open for the Rangers to win now.

Likewise, Lundqvist is another year older and may not have many elite seasons left in him. The pressure on the Swedish star to carry the Rangers deep again will be immense.

Predictions

The Penguins are hot and even without Malkin should be able to overpower the Rangers defense and get enough pucks on Lundqvist to pull out the victory, though New York won’t go down without a fight.

Penguins in six.

Here are other predictions from the LWOS Hockey department (it was unanimous):

Catherine Dore: Penguins in 6.

Zachary DeVine: Penguins in 6.

Connor Ferguson: Penguins in 6.

Dave Gove: Penguins in 6.

Nic Hendrickson: Penguins in 6.

Ben Kerr: Penguins in 6.

Mark Grainda: Penguins in 6.

Cristiano Simonetta: Penguins in 6.

Markus Meyer: Penguins in 6.

Griffin Schroeder: Penguins in 6.

Nicholas Di Giovanni: Penguins in 7.

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