Preview: Rangers Clash With Penguins in Pittsburgh Matinee

RANGERS at PENGUINS, 12:30 p.m.NBC, 98.7 FM
CRANBERRY TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- The Rangers will ride a hot hand in Alexandar Georgiev on Sunday afternoon, and coming off a convincing win in Buffalo on Friday night, it might be tempting (wise?) just to reuse the lineup card. Still, mostly in light of the unclear status of Brady Skjei for Sunday's game in Pittsburgh, there were moving parts all over the place at the Rangers' practice just outside the city limits on Saturday.
The Rangers' ultimate moving part over the past few weeks has been Brendan Smith, who has been one of the seven defensemen the Rangers have been suiting up in recent weeks and the one who has been shuttling during games between the left wing and the blue line. Smith was a forward when he played youth hockey and when David Quinn was recruiting him at Boston University, but when "you're playing against pros, the best in the world, rather than your high school buddies," Smith said on Saturday, it takes more than a little adjustment.

"More than anything it's the mental side that's the toughest, where you jump back and forth," Smith said as the Rangers prepared for Sunday's matinee and their second meeting this season with the Penguins. "You'll go play a couple forward shifts and then you'll be shorthanded, so you jump back on the D, and then play a D shift at even strength. But I thought I did a good job of that.
"There's times you're listening to both coaches on the bench, so sometimes that's interesting," he said, adding with a laugh: "I kind of like it though - they're battling for me, so that's good."
Smith "did a good job up front" against the Sabres, Quinn said, although Smith moved back to play the second half of Friday's game strictly at his natural blue-line position, a necessary adjustment once Skjei exited the game with a lower-body injury. "It might be easier just to play one position the whole game," Smith said, "but like I said, I want to play minutes and whatever I can do to help the team win, that ultimately, that's the goal."
Skjei's status for Sunday's game will go a long way toward determining where the rest of the dominoes fall in Quinn's lineup; the blueliner did not practice with the Rangers on Saturday and Quinn said he would be a gametime decision.
If he's unable to go, Smith is an option to remain there, while also waiting in the wings to make his return is Freddy Claesson, a fellow lefty-shot defenseman who has sat out the past month with a shoulder injury suffered on Jan. 12 against the Islanders. Claesson has been skating with the team for two weeks now, including on a pair with Adam McQuaid during Saturday's practice with Skjei sitting out. "Freddy's been cleared to go, so it all depends on who's available, whether Brady's available," Quinn said.
And that could also influence the status of Filip Chytil, who was the odd man out on Friday but whom Quinn could be reluctant to leave out for a second straight game. "I don't want him sitting (too long)," the coach said. "I want him in the lineup."
It would be unlikely for Quinn to lay a finger on the line centered by Ryan Strome, which combined on Friday night for three goals and two assists with six shots, not to mention Strome winning four of the five defensive-zone draws he took and the big minutes that line logged late against Buffalo's top players.
The unit of Vlad Namestnikov, Strome and Jesper Fast played its last five shifts of the game against the Sabres' No. 1 unit, which Phil Housley had loaded up moving Sam Reinhart up to join Jack Eichel and Jeff Skinner. During that time, the Rangers outscored the Sabres 3-0, with Namestnikov picking up two of the goals.
On Saturday, Strome said he and his linemates took the assignment to heart.
"When they switched the matchups in the third and they had Eichel against us, I think (Quinn) felt comfortable with that, and I think as a line you kind of get confidence from that when you feel the trust from your coach and play against those players," Strome said on Saturday as the Rangers prepared for a Sunday matinee with the Pittsburgh Penguins. "We had a good game, a two-way game. Obviously it's nice to contribute, and Vladdy got out of a little bit of a slump there, and he was pretty happy. And I was pretty happy for him and for our line and our team. It was a good night."
That Namestnikov's goals were aided by the absence of Sabres goalie Linus Ullmark - on the first one, Ullmark was behind his net when he misplayed a puck out into the crease - mattered little to the Rangers. "They all count. There's no replays in the game sheet," Strome said. "It's nice to see guys get rewarded, especially a guy like him - he blocks shots, he's tenacious, he's going through guys, he's always in the mix, mixing it up and hitting guys. To get rewarded is nice for him.
"I told him, I said, 'I've got to get one of those bounces at some point too.' You look, we've had multiple opportunities around the net, had that 2-on-1 (with 8½ minutes to go in a one-goal game), so many chances. Sometimes they go in and they go in in bunches for you, and sometimes they don't go in. You don't want to take your foot off the gas. It's nice to get rewarded but I think part of being a professional is bringing that mentality to every game."
"Quinny wants us to play a high-energy game, and I think we've been doing that," Namestnikov added. "I thought we were on the puck, we didn't give them much space, and we were supporting each other in the offensive zone. If we lost the puck, one of our guys was right on them. I think we have a little bit of chemistry and we're bring that right into (Sunday's) game."
Georgiev will start for the second straight game and the fourth time in the last six, having won the last three straight. In his last two outings, the rookie has stopped 86 out of 89 shots (.966), and he'll go for his 10th win this season.
Casey DeSmith was slated to oppose him in the Pittsburgh nets, although he was pressed into action for the third period on Saturday afternoon after Matt Murray allowed four second-period goals on 15 shots and was removed with the Penguins trailing 5-2 against the Calgary Flames - this after Murray had stopped 88 of 90 shots over his last two starts, both victories.
DeSmith stopped all seven shots he faced while the Pens rallied in that third period but came up short in a 5-4 loss, and so they'll drop the puck for the second time in less than 24 hours against the Rangers on Sunday looking to avoid back-to-back home losses for the first time since mid-November.
At the conclusion of their game on Saturday, the Penguins - who got defenseman Justin Schultz back on Saturday after a 53-game absence with a fractured leg - were left with a one-point edge in the standings for the East's final Wild Card, with the Carolina Hurricanes having a chance to leapfrog them with a game against Dallas on Saturday night.

NUMBERS GAME

Connor Brickley was awarded an assist on Saturday morning for a play he made on Friday night, helping set up Boo Nieves' first-period goal, giving Brickley - well after the fact - his first point on his first shift as a Ranger.
Alexandar Georgiev made 37 saves in winning his only career game against the Penguins, last March 14 at the Garden, during which he stopped Evgeni Malkin on a penalty shot with 11 seconds left in a tie game.
Chris Kreider had a goal and three assists in that March 14 game, and Mika Zibanejad scored twice, including the OT winner in a 4-3 Ranger victory. Neal Pionk had three assists in his 17th career game.
Zibanejad has not gone back-to-back games without a goal since Jan. 12-13.
Sidney Crosby scored a goal and two assists Saturday, making it eight points (2-6-8) in his last four games. His goal on Saturday was career No. 436th, leaving him three shy of Jaromir Jagr for second-most in Penguins history.
Entering Saturday's game against the Flames, Pittsburgh's power play, ranked fourth in the league, had gone five games without scoring and was 1-for-22 the previous 11 games. But it broke out for a 3-for-4 afternoon, including a pair in the third period from Malkin, who returned from a one-game stick-swinging suspension and broke a seven-game goal drought.
Phil Kessel's first of two assists on Saturday was his 800th NHL point, making him the 17th U.S.-born player to reach the milestone.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Vlad Namestnikov has 11 points (4-7-11) in 11 career games against the Penguins.
Bryan Rust has set a new career high with 16 goals this season after scoring just once in his first 29 games. He has three goals in his last six games against the Rangers.