Penguins, Rangers vie for East Final berth in Game 7

NEW YORK -- The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers will decide their Eastern Conference Second Round series on Tuesday night in Game 7 at Pittsburgh's CONSOL Energy Center (7 p.m., ET, NBCSN, CBC, RDS). The winner will advance to the Eastern Conference Final and face the winner of the Second Round series between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens.

These teams have never met in a series-deciding showdown but are no strangers to Game 7s in recent years.

The Rangers will be contesting a Game 7 for the fifth time in their past seven playoff series since 2012. Having eliminated the Philadelphia Flyers in seven games in the First Round, New York will attempt to post Game 7 wins in consecutive series for the second time in that span; they defeated the Ottawa Senators and Washington Capitals in the 2012 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals and Semifinals, respectively.

The Penguins will be contesting their fifth Game 7 in the past six playoff seasons and their first since dropping a 1-0 decision to the Tampa Bay Lightning in the 2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals. Five Penguins have appeared in each of Pittsburgh's four Game 7s since 2009: goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, defensemen Kris Letang and Brooks Orpik, and forwards Craig Adams and Chris Kunitz.

The Rangers have won four consecutive Game 7s and are 7-1 in their past eight such games. The club also is attempting to win a best-of-seven playoff series it trailed 3-1 for the first time in franchise history, a comeback with a historical success rate under 10% in the NHL (26-246, .096).

Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist has won four consecutive Game 7s, tied for the NHL record with Patrick Roy, Ed Belfour and Cam Ward. Center Brad Richards has an unblemished Game 7 record, going 6-0 in winner-take-all games since 2004, while teammate Dominic Moore will attempt to post his third Game 7 win at Pittsburgh since 2010 -- all with a different club. Moore scored once and posted a +2 rating in Montreal's 5-2 win in the 2010 Eastern Conference Semifinals -- the final game played at Mellon Arena -- and earned the primary assist on the game-winner by Sean Bergenheim in Tampa Bay's 1-0 win in the 2011 Eastern Conference Quarterfinals -- the first Game 7 contested at CONSOL Energy Center.

Other Game 7 Notes

* Home teams are 91-61 (.599) in 152 Game 7s all-time in the Stanley Cup Playoffs.

* The team that scores first is 112-40 (.737).

* 38 Game 7s have required overtime (38-of-152, 25.0%). Home and road teams are 19-19.

CAREER GAME 7 PLAYER, GOALTENDER AND COACHING STATISTICS

Pittsburgh GP W-L G A Pts.

Craig Adams 6 4-2 1 0 1

Chris Conner 1 0-1 0 0 0

Sidney Crosby 3 2-1 2 1 3

Pascal Dupuis 5 3-2 3 1 4

Tanner Glass 2 1-1 0 0 0

Marcel Goc 2 1-1 1 0 1

Jussi Jokinen 2 2-0 1 0 1

Chris Kunitz 5 3-2 1 1 2

Kris Letang 4 2-2 1 1 2

Evgeni Malkin 3 2-1 0 3 3

Paul Martin 2 0-2 0 0 0

James Neal 1 0-1 0 0 0

Matt Niskanen 1 0-1 0 0 0

Brooks Orpik 4 2-2 0 1 1

Taylor Pyatt 4 2-2 2 0 2

Rob Scuderi 3 3-0 0 1 1

Lee Stempniak 1 0-1 0 0 0

GP Mins W-L GAA SO Sv%

M-A Fleury 4 204 2-2 2.36 0 .901

Date Score Dec. Shots

4/27/11 T.B. 1 at PIT 0 Loss 23

5/12/10 MTL 5 at PIT 2 Loss 13

6/12/09 PIT 2 at DET 1 Win 24

5/13/09 PIT 6 at WSH 2 Win 21

Pittsburgh Head Coach

Dan Bylsma (2-2)

Date Score Dec.

4/27/11 T.B. 1 at PIT 0 Loss

5/12/10 MTL 5 at PIT 2 Loss

6/12/09 PIT 2 at DET 1 Win

5/13/09 PIT 6 at WSH 2 Win

NY Rangers GP W-L G A Pts.

Brian Boyle 3 3-0 0 0 0

Derick Brassard 2 2-0 0 3 3

Dan Carcillo 3 3-0 2 0 2

Derek Dorsett 2 2-0 0 1 1

Dan Girardi 5 4-1 1 0 1

Carl Hagelin 4 4-0 0 2 2

Kevin Klein 1 1-0 0 1 1

Chris Kreider 3 3-0 0 1 1

Ryan McDonagh 4 4-0 0 0 0

Dominic Moore 5 4-1 2 1 3

John Moore 2 2-0 0 0 0

Rick Nash 2 2-0 0 1 1

Benoit Pouliot 4 3-1 1 0 1

Brad Richards 6 6-0 1 3 4

Marc Staal 4 3-1 1 0 1

Derek Stepan 4 4-0 0 1 1

Martin St. Louis 5 4-1 0 1 1

Anton Stralman 4 4-0 0 1 1

Mats Zuccarello 2 2-0 1 1 2

GP Mins W-L GAA SO Sv%

Henrik Lundqvist 5 300 4-1 1.00 1 .963

Date Score Dec. Shots

4/30/14 PHI 1 at NYR 2 Win 27

5/13/13 NYR 5 at WSH 0 Win 35

5/12/12 WSH 1 at NYR 2 Win 23

4/26/12 OTT 1 at NYR 2 Win 27

4/28/09 NYR 1 at WSH 2 Loss 24

NY Rangers Head Coach

Alain Vigneault (3-1)

Date Score Dec.

4/30/14 PHI 1 at NYR 2 Win

6/15/11 BOS 4 at VAN 0 Loss

4/26/11 CHI 1 at VAN 2 (OT) Win

4/23/07 DAL 1 at VAN 4 Win

Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 (7-6)

4/27/11, Eastern Conference QF vs. Tampa Bay (T.B. 1 at PIT 0)

5/12/10, Eastern Conference SF vs. Montreal (MTL 5 at PIT 2)

6/12/09, Stanley Cup Final vs. Detroit (PIT 2 at DET 1)

5/13/09, Eastern Conference SF vs. Washington (PIT 6 at WSH 2)

5/10/01, Eastern Conference SF vs. Buffalo (PIT 3 at BUF 2, OT)

5/4/99, Eastern Conference QF vs. New Jersey (PIT 4 at N.J. 2)

6/1/96, Eastern Conference Final vs. Florida (FLA 3 at PIT 1)

5/18/95, Eastern Conference QF vs. Washington (WSH 0 at PIT 3)

5/14/93, Patrick Division Final vs. NY Islanders (NYI 4 at PIT 3, OT)

5/1/92, Patrick Division SF vs. Washington (PIT 3 at WSH 1)

4/15/91, Patrick Division SF vs. New Jersey (N.J. 0 at PIT 4)

4/29/89, Patrick Division Final vs. Philadelphia (PHI 4 at PIT 1)

4/26/75, Quarterfinal vs. NY Islanders (NYI 1 at PIT 0)

New York Rangers in Game 7 (7-5)

4/30/14, Eastern Conference First Round vs. Philadelphia (PHI 1 at NYR 2)

5/13/13, Eastern Conference QF vs. Washington (NYR 5 at WSH 0)

5/12/12, Eastern Conference SF vs. Washington (WSH 1 at NYR 2)

4/26/12, Eastern Conference QF vs. Ottawa (OTT 1 at NYR 2)

4/28/09, Eastern Conference QF vs. Washington (NYR 1 at WSH 2)

6/14/94, Stanley Cup Final vs. Vancouver (VAN 2 at NYR 3)

5/27/94, Eastern Conference Final vs. New Jersey (N.J. 1 at NYR 2, 2OT)

5/1/92, Patrick Division SF vs. New Jersey (N.J. 4 at NYR 8)

5/5/74, Semifinal vs. Philadelphia (NYR 3 at PHI 4)

5/2/71, Semifinal vs. Chicago (NYR 2 at CHI 4)

4/23/50, Stanley Cup Final vs. Detroit (NYR 3 at DET 4, 2OT)

4/2/39, Semifinal vs. Boston (NYR 1 at BOS 2, 3OT)