Pens Points: Rangers Game Day

Good morning one and all,

The Pens and the Rangers get to remember how much they don't like one another tonight on rivalry night. McDonagh and Nash out for NYR. [NBC Sports]

But mostly the Rangers are still super angry at Wayne Simmonds and on Sunday Tanner Glass finally gets to feel relevant again when he spends all game goading Simmonds into a fight. Oh joy. [NorthJersey.com]

Geno's "two games" is now five games, as Machino will be kept out of game action at least through next Monday. Bummer. [PPG]

Sid is back, though he never really left. Just like in February 2013 Ovechkin was declared a has-been and 4 months later he was holding the Hart Trophy. [Today's Slapshot]

*What is behind Crosby's scoring surge? Elliotte Friedman's 30 Thoughts column is a particularly good read today. [Sportsnet]

Asked if he resented Alain Vigneault's comments that the NHL treats him differently, Crosby wasn't going to be baited into a war of words. Maybe just fill the net, eh Sid? [NYDN]

Wilkes-Barre is now a veritable cradle of hockey coaching. No less than 5 of 30 NHL head coaches came from the Pens AHL affiliate. [PPG]

Toronto did a smart thing unloading Phaneuf's salary and a few other contracts, but that doesn't mean it's a dumb deal for Ottawa. Sean McIndoe elaborates. [The Guardian]

The New Jersey Devils retired Marty Brodeur's #30 last night in an emotional ceremony at the Prudential Center. 691 career wins. Will anyone break that? [SI]

San Jose Sharks shut out the Blackhawks and a disallowed goal sat none too well with Joel Quenneville, who stormed our of his press conference. [USA Today]

LA Kings came to Boston and dumped 9 goals on the Bruins. Ouch. That was a thorough thumping. [ESPN]

We've already seen a couple big deals ahead of the trade deadline, and not surprisingly prices for rental players are going down. [ESPN]

Victor Hedman will forever be filed in my "do not care if he lives or dies" drawer for obvious reasons I can't help, but this is a good article and worth reading and whatever. [The Players' Tribune]

I do not know what is going on in Calgary and what Bob Hartley is doing or what those guys do to necessitate a healthy scratch, but I watched parts of that game last night and it was bad. [NHL]

Also Nazem Kadri didn't like this Mark Giordano hit, so was making throat-slashing gestures at him from the bench, which the NHL will investigate. Well, we all heard Sid assess Kadri very accurately. [CBC]

*For the teams paying attention, analytics continue to add real value. A good update of where NHL front offices are in terms of understanding analytics. [TSN]

The Panthers have been a struggling franchise for years, but they have drafted wisely, signed some good FAs, and are well coached. What would a playoff berth mean to this franchise? In a word, everything. [Sportsnet]

Jussi Jokinen, who by the way is playing really well for the Panthers (sigh), was very upset with the NHL for not suspending Abdelkader for a very questionable hit that put Sasha Barkov out of commission. Only linking to this because we know JJ and his mild demeanor. [Sportsnet]

The playoff picture is still very fluid, which won't stop anyone from picturing some playoff matchups that could be pretty awesome, like Caps and Pens. I'd still prefer Pens finish second in division and play a lower seed. [Today's Slapshot]

*For the end, the absolutely most fun thing you'll see all day: Geno's mad GoPro skillz part deux. He is unbelievable. [CBS Sports]