Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers Predictions, Picks and Preview – 2015 Stanley Cup Playoffs, Eastern Conference First Round Game 1 – April 16, 2015
Don’t mind the Pittsburgh Penguins’ late season struggles, nor the New York Rangers’ President’s Trophy clinching run. We have ourselves an intense series between two of the best hockey clubs. The Penguins and Rangers last met each other in the playoffs in last season’s seven-game Eastern Conference Semifinals, where the Rangers prevailed. Who makes it out this time around? Continue below for everything you need to know for Game 1 of the Rangers vs. Penguins.
Get into the Stanley Cup playoffs craze. Check out our complete previews for the intriguing Eastern Conference matchups in the Lightning vs. Red Wings and Capitals vs. Islanders.
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Pittsburgh Penguins vs. New York Rangers Preview
Series Scores & Schedule
Game 1 — April 16, 7:00 PM ET, Pittsburgh Penguins (+160) at New York Rangers (-190); total 5.0 – view all NHL lines
Game 2 — April 18, 8:00 PM ET, Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers
Game 3 — April 20, 7:00 PM ET, New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins
Game 4 — April 22, 7:00 PM ET, New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins
Game 5 — April 24, Time TBD, Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers
Game 6 — April 26, Time TBD, New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins
Game 7 — April 28, Time TBD, Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers
Betting on the Pittsburgh Penguins
The Pittsburgh Penguins are limping into the postseason. They had lost five straight games before clinching a wild card berth by winning their final game of the regular season against the lowly Buffalo Sabres.
[sc:NHL240 ]Pittsburgh is also dealing with a slew of injuries to its blue line, which could prove costly going against the third-best offense in the league this season. Top defenseman Kris Letang is out indefinitely due to a concussion. The Pens were also without defensemen Christian Ehrhoff, Olli Maatta and Derrick Pouliot for their regular season finale. Their return in time for this playoff opener is still in question.
But the Pens may still feel pretty confident going against the NHL-best Rangers. After all, they’ve won four of their last five playoff series against New York. Pittsburgh has Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin manning the frontline. Crosby finished the regular season with 84 points (third in the league) in 77 games, while Malkin has battled injuries but still put up 70 points, including 28 goals, in 69 games.
Despite an injury-ravaged blue line, the Pens are still well-taken care of with Marc-Andre Fleury between the pipes. Fleury had a 2.40 GAA and a .915 save percentage in 13 playoff games last season, his best marks since putting up 1.97 and .933 respectively in the 2008 Stanley Cup Playoffs.
The Pens have the edge in special teams. Their 84.8 penalty kill percentage ranks third in the league. Pittsburgh has Fleury to thank for that. His .913 short-handed save percentage is the best mark in the league according to hockeyanalysis.com. The Rangers rank 21st in power play percentage (17 percent).
Pittsburgh has lost seven of its last 10 games on the road.
The New York Rangers cannot ask for a better first round opponent than Pittsburgh. The Rangers won their 2014-2015 regular season series against the Penguins, going 3-1 in four games. They outscored Pittsburgh 16-8 in the series.
The Rangers had a league-high plus-60 goal differential in the regular season. New York’s first round opponent, Pittsburgh, had a goal differential of just plus-11. The Rangers did this with excellent goaltending courtesy of former Vezina Trophy winner Henrik Lundqvist as well as an devastating frontline headed by Rick Nash.
Lundqvist has been stellar against Pittsburgh this season. He’s 3-1 with a 2.00 GAA and has saved 95 percent of shots in the regular season series against the Penguins. Lunqvist seems to have recovered well after missing an extended amount of time due to a vascular injury. He’s 4-1 with a 2.00 GAA in his last five regular season starts.
Nash is entering the postseason hot after scoring a career-high 42 points in the regular season. He’s scored four goals in four games against the Penguins and assisted in three others. But Nash has struggled aplenty in the playoffs as a Ranger. In 37 playoff games, he’s scored just four goals and assisted in 11 others.
If the Rangers’ go-to goal-scorer continues to be haunted by ghosts of postseasons past, then fellow wingers Martin St. Louis and Chris Kreider are there to salvage the day. St. Louis and Kreider each have 21 goals in the season, second-most in the Rangers’ roster, and have the dexterity that can get them past Pittsburgh’s excellent goaltending.
The X-factor for the Rangers is the excellent play of their blue line to set up New York’s talented forwards. Ryan McDonagh and Keith Yandle are both dangerous on the attack. McDonagh led the Rangers with 17 points in their unexpectedly deep 2014 playoff run. Yandle is peaking at the right time, totaling 10 points in the last 12 games of the regular season.
The Rangers are on a three-game home win streak against the Penguins dating back to last season’s Eastern Conference Semifinals.
Writer’s Prediction
The Rangers (-190) exploit Pittsburgh’s injury ravaged blue line to take Game 1.
