Preview: Rangers Host Penguins in Metro Clash

PENGUINS at RANGERS, 7 p.m.MSG, 98.7 FM
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There was an unexpected sight on the ice earlier this month when the Rangers held a morning skate in Westchester, preparing to face the New Jersey Devils at the Garden: Pavel Buchnevich wasn't dressed like the others. He was going through the drills in a USA jersey, No. 17, "Brown" on the back.
Buchnevich was settling his debt that day with assistant coach Greg Brown, who had won their wager when the United States topped Russia, 2-1, in the semifinal round of the World Junior Championships. It took Brown until March to get an old jersey to the practice rink; once he did, it was time for Buchnevich to pay up.
Looking back, an outside observer may wonder whether the scoring surge Buchnevich has been enjoying recently owes anything to that little star-spangled skate. But Buchnevich doesn't wonder - he knows.
"No. No. Definitely no. No," the 23-year-old, who played for Russia at the World Juniors in 2014 and '15, said on Sunday afternoon. "If you lose a bet, you have to do it. If I won, he wears my jersey. It's probably worse for him than for me. I'm fine."
Buchnevich has been more than fine in a Blueshirt during the month of March. He leads the Rangers in goals since the month began, having scored six times in the last 10 games. On three separate occasions he scored the goal that got the Rangers a point out of a game, including the opening score on Saturday night in Toronto that was enough to get the game to overtime, where Ryan Strome won it 1:48 in.

That goal stretched the third-year winger's career-high total to 18. His six goals in March are a career best for a calendar month, eclipsing the five he scored in October of 2017 - and there are still four games remaining on the March schedule, which resumes on Monday night when the Pittsburgh Penguins visit Madison Square Garden.
And in fairness to Buchnevich, this scoring run began prior to the morning he had to settle his account with Brown, on March 9.
"I think it's a natural progression of a young player. It's the peaks and valleys," David Quinn said after Buchnevich joined his teammates in a regular blue practice jersey. "I've talked about this a lot: Guys don't just come here and become great players overnight. I think there's some adversity that these players have to face, and learn how to get to the next level.
"He wants to be great, and sometimes there's battles with him, but at the end of the day he's done a heck of a job over the last month."
Never were those peaks and valleys more pronounced for Buchnevich than in the month of November. Buchnevich had a three-game points streak going, and points in five out of six games, with a goal and an assist already in his pocket during the Rangers' Nov. 10 game in Columbus, when he made his exit late in the game with what was later found to be a fractured thumb. The injury forced him to the shelf for a month just when his game had reached one of those heights.
His 18 goals have come in 57 games this season. He leads the Rangers in goals per 60 minutes with 1.27.
Buchnevich spoke on Sunday of how he had committed to heeding his coaches' message of playing a well-rounded game - "create some scoring chances for guys, be involved everywhere, pressure the puck every time," he said. "It doesn't matter, first-line player, fourth-line player: be consistent in my game."
Recently, Quinn has had Buchnevich on a line with the Rangers' top center and leading scorer, Mika Zibanejad, which included Chris Kreider on the left side until a lower-body injury forced Kreider to miss his first game all season on Saturday in Toronto - Kreider remains day-to-day and will miss a second straight game on Monday.
Into Kreider's spot has come Brendan Lemieux, who has played a large share of his time as a Ranger together with Buchnevich and has spoken effusively of the skill his Russian teammate possesses. Lemieux is relishing the opportunity to play with those two high-end skill players, along with the minutes and the matchups that that entails. In his first game with those linemates, Lemieux logged a career-high 15:29 and saw his shifts come primarily against Toronto's Zach Hyman-John Tavares-Mitch Marner unit.
"When you're playing 15 minutes it's a different type of endurance, it's a different style of game that you have to play," Lemieux said on Sunday. "For me, I have to remember why I'm there, and what kind of game I have to bring to that line, and that's straight lines, heavy, physical, and being at the net. Winning battles for them, getting in on the puck, so that they can come in, scoop it up and make their plays. They're two highly skilled players, incredible players, and I'm lucky to play with them.
"It feels great. I'm getting a lot more comfortable every game, I feel like I get a little bit better, and playing with guys like that helps a lot."
With Kreider and Jesper Fast unavailable against the Pens, the Rangers will wait and see on Marc Staal. The defensemen suffered a new lower-body injury toward the end of Saturday's game; he sat out Sunday's practice and is questionable for Monday.
Pittsburgh will be without Evgeni Malkin for the fifth straight game. The center absorbed a crosscheck two Saturdays ago in St. Louis and is considered "week-to-week."
Malkin played a major role in the late stages of these teams' most recent meeting, a wild one in Pittsburgh on Feb. 17, when Malkin scored twice in the third period to turn a tie game after two into a three-goal Penguin lead, before another Ranger rally would fall short in a 6-5 loss. Kris Letang scored the tiebreaker that afternoon, one of the three goals the blueliner has scored in two games against the Rangers this season.
The Penguins, on the outside of the playoff picture as recently as March 1, now are pushing the division leaders: They stand third in the Metropolitan and trail first-place Washington by three points with six games left on each of their schedules.
Since being pulled from the Pens' March 16 loss in St. Louis, Matt Murray has started all four Penguins games and has stopped 130 of 137 shots (.949), to go with a 1.65 goals-against average and a 2-0-2 record. Murray is 5-0 in his career against the Blueshirts.

PROJECTED LINEUP

48 Lemieux - 93 Zibanejad - 89 Buchnevich
26 Vesey - 50 Andersson - 16 Strome
90 Namestnikov - 72 Chytil - 95 Lettieri
24 Nieves - 21 Howden - 42 Smith
18 Staal* - 77 DeAngelo
76 Skjei - 22 Shattenkirk
58 Gilmour - 44 Pionk
*did not practice Sunday
30 Lundqvist
40 Georgiev

NUMBERS GAME

Pavel Buchnevich's goal on Saturday night was his 40th NHL goal, making him the fourth Russian player to reach 40 goals for the Rangers (Alexei Kovalev, Sergei Nemchinov, Artem Anisimov).
With his 44-save night in Toronto on Saturday, on the heels of his 55-save win over the Maple Leafs on Feb. 10, Alexandar Georgiev became the first Ranger goaltender since Expansion in 1967 to post multiple 40-plus-save games against the same opponent in a season.
Filip Chytil will skate in his 71st game of the season on Monday night; only two Rangers have played more games as a teenager: Michael Del Zotto (80 in 2009-10) and Manny Malhotra (73 in 1998-99).
The Rangers have seven goals in their last 20 power plays against the Penguins (35 percent).
Pittsburgh is 9-2-3 since Feb. 26; their 21 points are tied with Vegas (10-1-1) for the league's most in that monthlong span.
With 93 points through 76 team games, Sidney Crosby remains on pace to hit exactly 100 points this season, though he has just one assist in his last five.
Phil Kessel has 24 goals this season but just three in his last 26 games. He last scored an even-strength goal on Jan. 30.

PLAYERS TO WATCH

Vlad Namestnikov has 11 points (4-7--11) in 12 career games against the Penguins, his highest total against any NHL opponent. The winger has 12 points in 23 games against Metropolitan Division opponents this season.
Jared McCann, who scored twice in Dallas on Saturday, has 11 goals in 26 games as a Penguin this season - three of them shorthanded - after eight in 46 games to start the season with Florida.
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