After playing four games in seven days, the Penguins took a much-needed day of rest yesterday, but they are back at it tonight with a key Metro Division game against the New York Rangers, who are just a point behind the second-place Pens and who routed Pittsburgh, 5-1, just last Friday.
Center Evgeni Malkin returned to the Pens’ lineup after a brief illness and had a hat trick in the game against Detroit. Coach Mike Sullivan said afterward that Malkin is not just a generational talent, he and Sidney Crosby are two of the greatest hockey players of all time.
Newly-acquired winger Rickard Rakell skated on Malkin’s line along with Bryan Rust. Sullivan says after a whirlwind first week with the team, Rakell is settling in nicely.
The Rangers monopolized the ice on Friday night at Madison Square Garden, taking a 3-0 lead in the first period and carrying a 4-0 lead into the third before the Penguins finally got a goal.
Penguins center Teddy Blueger says the Rangers are the real deal.
Bryan Rust has been a force wherever he’s played this season, whether on Crosby’s line or Malkin’s. He said after Sunday’s dominant win over Detroit that the Pens need to bring that kind of effort against the Rangers.
The airtime on 92.5 FM U92 and the U92 Sportschannel tonight will be 6 o’clock, with the faceoff coming shortly after 7.
The Penguins yesterday signed undrafted free agent defenseman Colin Swoyer to a one-year NHL entry-level contract worth $750,000. It will kick in at the start of next season. Swoyer just completed his college career at Michigan State. He’s six feet tall and weighs 192 pounds. He scored five goals and had eighteen assists this season for the Spartans. He’ll play the rest of this season at Wilkes Barre-Scranton on an amateur tryout contract.
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