Penguins at Rangers preview

PENGUINS (40-26-4) at RANGERS (31-32-7)
8 p.m. ET; NBCSN, NHL.TV

The Penguins, 3-1-0 in their past four games and 15-5-1 in their past 21, trail the Washington Capitals by one point for the Metropolitan lead, and are three points ahead of the third-place Philadelphia Flyers.
Pittsburgh begins a stretch of four games against teams on the outside of the Stanley Cup Playoff race; it plays at the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday, at the New York Islanders on Tuesday, and at home against Montreal on March 21.
Goaltender Alexandar Georgiev will make his second consecutive start for the Rangers, 4-8-2 in their past 14 games.
New York hasn't won against a team currently in a playoff position since a 3-1 victory at the Winnipeg Jets on Feb. 11.

Players to watch

Penguins center Evgeni Malkin needs one goal to reach 40 for the third time in the NHL. He leads the League with 25 goals and 51 points since Jan. 1, and has 38 points (18 goals 20 assists) in his past 20 games.
Rangers forward Ryan Spooner has 13 points (two goals, 11 assists) in eight games since being traded to New York by the Boston Bruins on Feb. 25.

They said it

"We see parts of our schedule that can be a grind and stretches that we need to take advantage of. This upcoming stretch of games here against some teams that maybe have not had the years that they've wanted to is really important for us. We have to try and get some points here." - Penguins forward Bryan Rust
"The last 20 games of our season have kind of been like an audition a little bit for management to see what they're going to do. So, I definitely want to finish strong." - Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Conor Sheary
Carl Hagelin -- Evgeni Malkin -- Patric Hornqvist
Bryan Rust -- Derick Brassard -- Phil Kessel
Tom Kuhnhackl -- Riley Sheahan -- Carter Rowney
Brian Dumoulin -- Kris Letang
Jamie Oleksiak -- Justin Schultz
Olli Maatta -- Chad Ruhwedel
Casey DeSmith
Tristan Jarry
Scratched:Josh Jooris, Matt Hunwick
Injured: Matt Murray (concussion), Dominik Simon (concussion), Zach Aston-Reese (upper body)

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Jesper Fast
Ryan Spooner -- Kevin Hayes -- Mats Zuccarello
Jimmy Vesey -- Vladislav Namestnikov -- Pavel Buchnevich
Cody McLeod -- David Desharnais -- Paul Carey
Marc Staal -- Neal Pionk
Brady Skjei -- Ryan Sproul
John Gilmour -- Rob O'Gara
Alexandar Georgiev
Henrik Lundqvist
Scratched: Peter Holland
Injured:Tony DeAngelo (ankle), Kevin Shattenkirk (knee surgery), Ondrej Pavelec (sprained MCL), Steven Kampfer (fractured hand)

Status report

Rust is expected to return after missing two games with a concussion. … DeAngelo will miss 3-4 weeks with a sprained ankle, an injury he sustained Monday.

Stat pack

At least one Penguins defenseman has scored in 12 of the past 16 games. … Kessel has 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in a nine-game point streak against the Rangers.