Tonight at 7:00 p.m. ET, the New York Rangers (31-24-3, 65 points) and Pittsburgh Penguins (40-15-2, 82 points) hit the ice at the Consol Energy Center for the fourth and final meeting against each other this season. The game can be live streamed here. New York fans can hear all of the action on 98.7 ESPN Radio while Pittsburgh fans can do the same on 105.9 WXDX.
New York has won four of its last five and seven of its last 10 while Pittsburgh has won two straight games and is an NHL-best 23-4-0 at home this season. These teams split games at Madison Square Garden this season, while the Penguins took the last meeting at Consol Energy Center by a 5-2 margin on Jan. 3.
The 2013-14 Penguins team became the fastest team to win 40 games in franchise history by taking just 57 games to do so, but the team doesn't want to look too far into it.
"I think we're aware of that stuff when everyone brings it up, but hopefully we're thinking much more further ahead here," captain Sidney Crosby said Thursday, according to The Sports Xchange. "We've had some really good regular seasons in the past, I think everyone's well aware of that."
Crosby leads the Penguins and the NHL with 77 points off of 28 goals and 49 assists while Evgeni Malkin has a four-game point streak and 17 markers and 40 helpers for 57 points and Chris Kunitz has found the back of the net 27 times while adding 28 assists for 55 points.
The Penguins will be without defenseman Kris Letang, who suffered a stroke and will miss at least six weeks.
The Rangers are coming off of a 2-1 loss to the Edmonton Oilers on Thursday night that saw Edmonton score the game-winning goal with just 1:38 remaining in regulation to break the 1-1 tie.
"We've played pretty good as of late," forward Brad Richards said per NHL.com after the game. "I think we could've done a little more [Thursday]. We'll try to regroup; we've just got to wake up tomorrow and get back to work. "
Mats Zuccarello has notched a career-high five-game point streak for the Blueshirts and leads the team with 42 points off of 15 goals and 27 assists while Richards is second on the team with 41 points off of 15 markers and 26 helpers and Derek Stepan has found the twine 10 times while adding 15 assists for 25 points.
Henrik Lundqvist will likely suit up for New York after having Thursday night off, and is 21-18-3 with a 2.43 goals-against average and a .918 save percentage while Marc-Andre Fleury is the likely starter for Pittsburgh, and is 31-13-1 with a 2.22 GAA and a .918 save percentage.
The Rangers and Penguins go head-to-head when the lights come up tonight at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh.
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