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The 4-Nations Face-Off tournament has concluded with Canada as the victor. Now, players will head back to their respective NHL teams to duke it out for the remaining season in hopes of achieving the Stanley Cup playoffs. This afternoon, there’s a flock of NHL games happening as we move forward with the 2024/2025 season.
Get the full rundown of our analysis on today’s New York Rangers vs. Pittsburgh Penguins game at 3:30 PM ET and decide whether it’s something you want to fade or follow!
The Rangers aren’t playing as well as they’d hoped entering the season, as New York is in 5th place in the Metropolitan Division. They carry a 27-25-4 mark into today’s game but had their doors blown off by the Buffalo Sabres yesterday afternoon, 8-2. Buffalo jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the 1st period, and even though New York grabbed two goals in the 2nd, their legs looked completely gone by the 3rd. Luckily, the Penguins also played yesterday, so there isn’t a rest advantage for either team.
LW Artemi Panarin leads New York and has 58 points (23 G and 35 A) through 54 games. They’ve also received decent contributions from D Adam Fox (45 points), C Mika Zibanejad (38 points) and C Vincent Trocheck (37 points). Although all five players have 37+ points, only Fox has a positive +/-, showing the Rangers’ struggles this year. A major issue for New York is their defense, as they’ve given up 3.14 goals per game (23rd in the NHL), but G Igor Shesterkin has a 90.3% save percentage and ranks 5th in the NHL in total saves (1,151).
Pittsburgh is having a rough season, and with 58 total games played, they are 23-26-9 and just fell to the Washington Capitals 8-3 yesterday. They never had a chance in that game, as the Caps outscored the Pens 5-1 in the 2nd period and never looked back. Like the Rangers, it will be interesting to see if they can turn things around in less than 24 hours.
Sydney Crosby leads his team in points with 18 goals and 41 assists. Right wing Rickard Rakell should not be counted out either, as he boasts 25 goals and 24 assists in his 57 games. Along with Bryan Rust, and his 20 goals and 22 assists, the rest will be up to Erik Karlsson cleaning it up on defense while posting 6 goals and 33 assists. Pittsburgh’s starting goalie Alex Nedelijkovic will need as much help as possible protecting the net, as he has split time evenly this season with Tristan Jarry, both of which are close to 90% save rates.
I lean towards a Rangers victory today, with both teams coming off big defeats yesterday, but I feel even better about there being plenty of goals. These teams met three times already this season, as New York has outscored Pittsburgh 12-5, winning two of the three meetings. I’m not entirely sure who will start in the net for both teams, as it’s the second day of a back-to-back for both squads, but both teams’ starting goalies were pulled yesterday after giving up 5+ goals apiece.
One thing I feel great about today is backing Vincent Trocheck to find the back of the net. He scored in each of the three meetings against the Penguins this season and after failing to score yesterday, he’s in a great bounceback spot. Expect a high-scoring affair today, and I’ll predict Trocheck to score 1+ goal.
Liam has been a major sports fan and soccer player for over a decade, with a particular focus on major top-level soccer leagues, including the EPL, La Liga, Serie A, Bundesliga and MLS. He has written numerous promotional articles for various top sportsbooks and continues to publish historical and factual sports articles covering the NFL, MLS, NHL, MLB, EPL and more.