Posted by The Rangers are coming off a game where they faced the most adversity a single team has faced in a game all season. They were given eleven minor penalties (resulting in five 5 on 3 opportunities for the Blackhawks) and managed to go 10-11 on the penalty kill. Rangers’ coach Tom Renney, who I sometimes wonder if he even has a pulse was beginning to scream and yell at the officials; that’s when you know its bad. I’ve watched a lot of hockey in my life and I can safely say that the game Friday night was the worst officiated game I have ever seen, but can smile about it because the Rangers eventually won in overtime, and on a powerplay (talk about ironic).
Now the Rangers have a new task at hand today, and that is against the struggling and badly beat-up Pittsburgh Penguins at a 12:30 start on NBC today. This game really could go either way. The Rangers have a struggling offense while the Penguins defense will be missing a key piece in Brooks Orpik. Star center Sidney Crosby is also questionable and because of the early start, there will be no morning ska
te so we will have to wait until game time before we know if he can go.
On the Rangers side, defenseman Dan Girardi said he feels fine and will be ready to go, even after hitting his head on the ice during a fight in the last game. The Rangers’ goaltender will be Henrik Lundqvist while for the Penguins, it’s not definite. One would assume the start would go to Marc-Andre Fleury but because of his recent slip in play, the nod might go to newly acquired goaltender Mathieu Garon, whom the Penguins acquired from Edmonton yesterday in a deal that sent Dany Sabourin packing.
Final Prediction: Pittsburgh 3, New York 2 OT. This is reminiscent of the last Ranger game in which I picked Chicago to win. The Rangers have won three in a row and also three in a row over the Penguins. I highly doubt the Rangers will sweep this season so the Penguins are due to win one against the Blueshirts sooner rather then later. Add to the fact that if Garon does indeed get the start, he will want to impress the coaching staff in his first game, and a little inscentive for a goalie is always a negative thing if you’re the opponent. Overall I think it will be a good game and I just hope that the referees will not carry over from the last game and the Rangers will not be penalized for merely giving Crosby a love tap. Also, let’s hope that the non-stop lovefest towards Crosby from the NBC announcers will take a break today. I only wonder who they will decide to adore (or insert sexual reference here) if the N HL’s golden boy can’t lace em up today.
Notables: The Penguins have a slew of injuries, just take a look at their ltest report; Sidney Crosby (DTD), Maxime Talbot (DTD), Rob Scuderi (DTD), Ruslan Fedetenko (IR), Pascal Dupuis (IR), Mike Zigomanis (IR), and Sergei Gonchar (IR).
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