Rangers at Penguins preview

RANGERS (22-16-5) at PENGUINS (23-19-3)
7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV

The Penguins have won three straight and four of their past five (4-1-0) after losing seven of their previous 10 (3-7-0). They defeated the Detroit Red Wings 4-1 on Saturday.
The Rangers are 1-3-0 in their past four games and 3-4-2 in their past nine after losing 7-2 at home to the New York Islanders on Saturday. Goalie Henrik Lundqivst is expected to start after replacing Ondrej Pavelec, who allowed five goals on 19 shots, at 6:51 of the second period Saturday.
Penguins goalie Matt Murray has returned from a personal family matter and skated Sunday, but will not be available against the Rangers. Goalie Tristan Jarry will start his fourth straight game.
Rangers forward Kevin Hayes (contusion) will not play.

Players to watch

Rangers forward Rick Nash has one assist in his past 11 games. He has not scored a goal since Dec. 15.
Penguins center Evgeni Malkin has eight points (five goals, three assists) in his past three games.

They said it

"The beautiful thing about a back to back is it's a huge game for us [Sunday] and we can put forth a good effort and turn the page." -- Rangers forward Rick Nash
"It takes a certain mental toughness to play [back to back], regardless of the position that you play. … [Jarry] has done that a fair amount of times and it will serve him well in this type of experience when we're asking him to play back to back." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Rangers projected lineup

J.T. Miller -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Rick Nash -- Boo Nieves -- Jesper Fast
Jimmy Vesey -- David Desharnais -- Pavel Buchnevich
Michael Grabner -- Paul Carey --
Vinni Lettieri
Ryan McDonagh -- Nick Holden
Brady Skjei -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Marc Staal -- Steven Kampfer
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Scratched: Brendan Smith
Injured:Chris Kreider (blood clot), Kevin Hayes (contusion)

Penguins projected lineup

Dominik Simon
-- Sidney Crosby --
Daniel Sprong
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Conor Sheary -- Jake Guentzel -- Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl -- Riley Sheahan -- Ryan Reaves
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Justin Schultz
Matt Hunwick -- Jamie Oleksiak
Tristan Jarry
Casey DeSmith
Scratched:Ian Cole, Matt Murray
Injured:Bryan Rust (upper body), Chad Ruhwedel (upper body), Carter Rowney (upper body)

Status report

McDonagh took a maintenance day Sunday. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said he's a little more than 50/50 to play. … Ruhwedel is expected to miss his eighth game with an upper-body injury. He has skated on a fourth defensive pair with Cole during recent practices.

Stat pack

The Rangers are one of two NHL teams to have 14 players who have at least 13 points this season; the Winnipeg Jets are the other. … The Penguins have scored at least four goals in each of their past three games after scoring fewer than two in three of their previous four.