Pens Points: Rangers Game Day

Good morning one and all,

Pens morning skate is underway and Justin Schultz is on the ice. The Penguins have a plan to get him playing well again, and it involves a change of scenery. [PPG]

The Pens host the Rangers tonight as their March of death continues. This is another day to say "hey it's 5 pm somewhere" and start anesthetizing yourself early 'cause it's gonna be painful. Here is the game preview. [AP]

Rick Nash is still not back for the Rangers, who wasn't placed on LTIR so I was expecting him back sooner, but it looks as if though he needs another 7-10 days. [Blueshirt Banter]

So Jeff Gorton went all-in on the Rangers this year. That means Alain Vigneault has to do the same, right? With a healthy and hot Lundqvist, the Rangers will be hard to beat in the postseason. [Blueshirt Banter]

The Pens greater plan involves a bigger emphasis on team speed, which the insist is going to counter opposing teams' physical and intimidating styles. [Trib]

The Flyers are playing the Oilers tonight and Brandon Manning, who was involved in the collision with McDavid that caused his injury, said all kind of threats including death came his way in the aftermath. Well, folks on twitter issue death threats for line combos they don't like. [Philly.com]

The latest NHL power rankings include the best trade chip on each team. Not surprisingly, Derrick Pouliot is it for the Pens, who also not surprisingly fell in the rankings. [Sportsnet]

The 16-man lists for the World Cup of Hockey are out and 4 Pens are in: Sid for Canada, Geno for Russia, Olli for Finland and Matt Murray for North America. Phil Kessel didn't get named yet, but guess what, he's the first player selected for Team Natasha, which would beat all those other stupid teams. [Trib]

Some other omissions raised eyebrows, notably those of players like PK Subban. It turns out, GMs and coaches of such teams dread the T-word and tend to stay away from players who cough up the puck. [Habs EOTP]

***For the end, here is the triple-starred must-read of the day. [The Players' Tribune]