Penguins at Rangers preview

PENGUINS (3-2-1) at RANGERS (1-5-0)
7 p.m. ET; MSG, ATTSN-PT, TVA Sports, NHL.TV

The Penguins, who have won three of their past four games, are 4-1-0 in their past five regular-season games at Madison Square Garden and 10-4-0 in their past 14 games, including the Stanley Cup Playoffs, against the Rangers.
Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist will start for New York. He has a 1.36 goals-against average and .959 save percentage in his past three starts.
Pittsburgh goaltender Matt Murray is 6-0-0 with a 1.64 GAA and .940 save percentage in six career appearances (regular season and playoffs) against the Rangers.

Players to watch

Penguins defenseman Olli Maatta has five points (one goal, four assists) in a four-game point streak, and has points (two goals, four assists) in five of six games this season.
Rangers forward Rick Nash scored his first goal of the season in New York's 3-2 loss against the New Jersey Devils on Saturday. He has been promoted to the first power-play unit.

They said it

"If you're not working hard and competing and making good decisions with the puck it doesn't matter what system you're playing, it's going to be ineffective for us to try to win a game. We've learned some hard lessons here early on and paid the price for it." -- Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh
"I thought the Nashville game [4-0 win on Oct. 7], we liked our game a lot. I thought the Washington game [3-2 win on Oct. 11], we liked our game a lot. Those are probably the two games that are closest to the type of game we're trying to play consistently, but we have to bring it every night. You can't just play once in a while." -- Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Conor Sheary
Bryan Rust -- Evgeni Malkin -- Phil Kessel
Carl Hagelin -- Greg McKegg -- Patric Hornqvist
Tom Kuhnhackl -- Carter Rowney -- Ryan Reaves
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Olli Maatta -- Chad Ruhwedel
Ian Cole -- Justin Schultz
Matt Murray
Antti Niemi
Scratched: Scott Wilson, Josh Archibald, Chris Summers
Injured:Matt Hunwick (undisclosed)

Rangers projected lineup

Rick Nash -- Mika Zibanejad -- Mats Zuccarello
Chris Kreider -- David Desharnais -- J.T. Miller
Jimmy Vesey -- Kevin Hayes -- Jesper Fast
Michael Grabner -- Adam Cracknell -- Pavel Buchnevich
Ryan McDonagh -- Tony DeAngelo
Marc Staal -- Kevin Shattenkirk
Brady Skjei -- Brendan Smith
Henrik Lundqvist
Ondrej Pavelec
Scratched: Nick Holden, Steven Kampfer, Paul Carey
Injured: None

Status report

Hunwick, who did not participate in the optional morning skate Tuesday, has been put on injured reserve with an unspecified injury. ... Cole's status will be determined closer to game time, according to Sullivan. The Penguins defenseman has missed the past three games with a facial injury, when he was hit in the mouth by a slap shot from Nashville Predators defenseman Roman Josi on Oct. 7. Cole will wear a full, clear face shield if he plays. … Cracknell will play after being a healthy scratch Saturday.

Stat pack

Crosby has scored at least one goal in six of his past seven games against the Rangers. He has goals in four straight games at the Garden, and points (three goals, five assists) in five of six games this season.