The Rangers will face the Penguins in the first round of the playoffs after the Penguins clinched third place in the Metro.
The Rangers were 3-1 against the Penguins this season and won the last three meetings.
Sam Rosen said on MSG that Game 1 was likely to be on Tuesday.
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Adam Rotter: This was the expected match up for weeks, but then the Caps made their move up the standings and had a game in hand on the Penguins, but couldn’t jump over them.
The Rangers showed in those last three meetings that they match up well with the Penguins and they head into the playoffs as the better team. The Rangers have the advantage in every category except for experience. The biggest advantage the Rangers have is in goal and not only because of Igor Shesterkin. Pittsburgh’s starter Tristan Jarry has been out and seems questionable, at best, to start the series. Goaltending was what doomed the Penguins last year in the playoffs against the Islanders and the Rangers will retain a massive advantage there.
The forwards and defense are closer, but the Rangers seem like the deeper team in both areas. There will also be an interesting special teams matchup with the Penguins 3rd ranked PK against the Rangers 4th ranked PP. The Penguins also were plus-47, best in the league, in having drawn 47 more penalties than penalties they took. The Rangers were minus-8. The Penguins took the second fewest amount of penalties in the league and actually drew 18 more than the Rangers did this season. So the Rangers will have to work even harder to draw penalties against a team that doesn’t taken them and then convert on the few chances they may have.
Where the Penguins have a big advantage is with Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, Kris Letang and, possibly, Head Coach Mike Sullivan. That group has two Stanley Cups, the players have three in total, and the Penguins as a team have a lot more playoff experience. Will that matter? It’s hard to say and the same goes for the success that the Rangers had over the Penguins in the regular season. Again, the Rangers should be favored in this series and their goaltending advantage might be enough to overcome any adjustments they have to playoff-style hockey, but it wouldn’t shock me if this went six or seven games. I think the Rangers will come out on top and advance to the second round but I don’t think it will be as easy as their advantages on paper make it seem like it could be.