David Quinn still had a decision to make on which goaltender he wanted to send out for the season finale. A Henrik Lundqvist start would be his 65th career game against the Penguins, while Alexandar Georgiev would play his fifth against them. For either goaltender, it would be their most games against any NHL opponent.
Georgiev was given the nod in the home finale on Friday night and made 39 saves to take the Columbus Blue Jackets to a shootout. The rookie goaltender had a shutout streak of 147:23 halted in that game; he has stopped 106 of the last 108 shots he has seen.
"He's a good goalie. He's been coming up big for us. It's good to have him," said Mika Zibanejad. "He's still young so I'm looking forward to what he can do from here."
That last part could be said of Zibanejad, who spent the past few days stockpiling team awards. Zibanejad leads the Rangers in numerous statistical categories this season, including goals (30), assists (44, after a pair on Friday) and points (74). On Wednesday night he took home the Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award; on Friday, Zibanejad was named the Rangers' 2018-19 Most Valuable Player.
He gave examples of why throughout the game against the Blue Jackets, including his somewhat unorthodox but entirely effective approach to a 2-on-1 that set up Chris Kreider in the second period. That goal opened the scoring and was No. 28 on the season for Kreider - equaling his career high from two years ago when he played his last full, healthy campaign.
Quinn acknowledged that it was nice for his team to see Kreider match a personal best with one game to go, and also that the way he and his linemates (Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich) were playing, Kreider had a shot at reaching the 30-goal mark before Friday night was out.
"Yeah he did, he had some chances tonight," Quinn said after the game. "I thought that line was really good tonight, and gave us a spark - gave us a first-line feel for sure.
"Kreids is a guy that's very explosive: He can kill you at any time. At any point on any shift he's a guy that can strike. He made a heck of a play on the goal, showed some great poise. Mika obviously made a great play and he had some really great chances, too. It's good to see him feel good and get rewarded."
The Penguins are 11-4-2 since March 2, just enough to squeeze them through the playoff door in Game 81. But perhaps the best news of all for Pittsburgh was seeing the returns of Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang on the same evening on Thursday.
Malkin returned after missing 16 straight games with a rib injury; he stands fourth on the Penguins with 72 points but in only 67 games. Letang, meanwhile, was back for a second time from an upper-body injury and playing in just his fourth game since Feb. 23.
Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said on Friday that both players "responded fine. They both had good games and they feel strong."
Matt Murray will take his 11th straight start for the Penguins - the longest stretch of his career - looking to build on his 6-0 regular-season record against the Rangers.
