The NY Rangers and Pittsburgh Penguins are playing on the NHL schedule on Sunday and the matchup from the CONSOL Energy Center starts up at 12:30 pm ET on NBC and streaming on the NBC Sports Network Live Extra website as Rick Nash and Henrik Lundqvist travel to play Sidney Crosby and he Pens.
The NY Rangers have been playing as good as anyone in the NHL over the last few weeks and after a disappointing loss to the leading Islanders, the team has another chance to beat a top team. The Penguins have been playing well this season and now the Rangers are within striking distance in the standings. The team has been on a hot streak and they are still just fourth in the metro division, which says a lot about how the rest of the conference has been performing.
Nash is having one of the best seasons of his career and this is what the Rangers had hoped when he came to the team. The Rangers are ranked in the top 10 in scoring this season and that has always been the main issue in recent years with this team. Lundqvist has rebounded after a slow start despite the performance last week and the team is ranked fourth in goals against this season. The Penguins come into the game with 58 points on the season and the Rangers now have 54 points and the Pens are second in the division standings.
The Penguins come into the game after a 6-3 loss against the Islanders and they will play against the Flyers after a matchup with the Rangers. The Penguins are ranked fifth in the league in goals per game and they are ranked in the top 10 in goals against per game, power play percentage and penalty kill percentage on special teams. Crosby is having another strong season and he has 50 points already and is the player to watch in this Sunday matinee. Nash comes in with 26 goals and 41 points to lead the Rangers, while Derek Stepan leads with 23 assists. Evgeni Malkin is leading the Penguins in points with Crosby and is tops in goals, while Crosby is first in assists.
The Rangers just went through a tough scoreless streak and had shutout losses in two games and now they are coming in after a win against the Blue Jackets that was much needed. Nash had nine goals over the last 14 games for the Rangers and this run put the team in strong position to stay in the mix through the second half of the season. The Rangers made a surprising run to the Stanley Cup finals last year and Lundqvist comes in hot having won 12 of his last 14 starts.
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