After a rough 8-3 loss against the Washington Capitals on Saturday, the Pittsburgh Penguins will look to bounce back and take advantage of a team in a similar situation.
The New York Rangers suffered, perhaps, an even more deflating loss against the Buffalo Sabres on Saturday – the worst team in the East – as they dropped that contest, 8-2. The Penguins were not happy about their performance on Saturday, and they look forward to the opportunity to get right back at it and face another divisional test on Sunday.
“We can’t keep giving these types of games away, but right now, it feels good that we’re back at it [today],” forward Rickard Rakell said. “We’ve just got to put a better game on the ice.”
They will look to get the win in front of rookie goaltender Joel Blomqvist, who relieved Alex Nedeljkovic Saturday during the second period after Nedeljkovic surrendered five goals on 13 shots. Blomqvist gave up three goals but got stronger as the game went on.
The Penguins will also once again be without forward Bryan Rust, who is still out of the lineup with an illness. Forward Boko Imama is still on the shelf with an upper-body injury as well.
Here is the rest of the Penguins’ lineup for Sunday’s game:
This will be the Penguins’ final contest against the Rangers this season, and so far, they are 1-2 against them and have been outscored, 12-5. Their most recent meeting came on Feb. 7, when they defeated the Rangers, 3-2, despite being down both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin.
Rakell enters this game with points in each of his last six, and he is just two points shy of hitting the 500-point mark for his career. Defenseman Erik Karlsson is also on a six-game point streak, which is the best active streak among defenseman behind only John Carlson of the Washington Capitals.
The Rangers are 5-5 in their last 10 games and sit just four points out of the second wild card spot in the East.
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