When the puck drops for the Penguins' meeting with the Rangers on Tuesday evening at PPG Paints Arena it will mark the first time the two teams have faced off since the Rangers eliminated the Penguins in seven games in the opening round of the playoffs last spring.
It was an emotional rollercoaster of a series with plenty of controversy. Tristan Jarry was sidelined for the Penguins from an injury sustained at the end of the regular season, making Casey DeSmith the Game 1 starter. An injury to DeSmith in the second overtime period of Game 1 forced No. 3 goaltender Louis Domingue into action, who fared well early on in the series until coming back down to Earth and looking very much like a No. 3 goaltender.
Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba delivered an elbow to the head of Jake Guentzel in the first period of Game 1. Guentzel ended up being fine, but Sidney Crosby -- who took an elbow up high from Trouba the next period -- would be sidelined until Game 7. Rickard Rakell was injured in Game 1 after a big hit from Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren, keeping him out too until Game 7.
Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin, who would go on to win the Vezina Trophy as the league's top goaltender last season, was chased by the Penguins twice in the series after allowing a combined 10 goals on 48 shots in Games 3 and 4.
Jarry -- despite being far from 100% in terms of health -- returned for Game 7 and took the Penguins to overtime before Artemi Panarin scored the goal to end the Penguins' season.
P.O Joseph wasn't in the lineup for those games, but he said that he can "feel the energy in the locker room" as the Penguins prepare to face off against the Rangers once again.
"Guys never forget experiences like that," he said. "It's definitely a bittersweet feeling after a loss like that. Redemption time is tonight."
The Rangers are anticipating the Penguins to come into Tuesday's game with a bit of an edge and looking for that redemption too, as defenseman K'Andre Miller told me after the Rangers' morning skate.
"It's going to be fun," Miller said. "We had some good battles with this team. "They're a really good team and I'm assuming they're going to come in hungry and with a little chip on their shoulder and looking for a little revenge tonight. That's kind of a given right now. We kind of know that going into this game and expect it, and I think that's what makes the game fun."
The Rangers currently sit third in the Metropoltian Division standings with 41 points. The Penguins rank fourth with 40 points, though they do have two games in hand compared to the Rangers. Both teams are coming into this game on similar hot streaks, with the Penguins 7-2-1 in their last 10 games and the Rangers 8-1-1 in their last 10 games. The Penguins just saw their seven-game winning streak end on Sunday against the Hurricanes, while the Rangers enter Tuesday's game riding a seven-game win streak of their own.
While the way last season ended is certainly on the minds of Penguins players, that's not their main focus heading into this game. It can't be, not with how tight the Metropolitan Division race is. They're focused on the two points in front of them.
"Last year was last year," Mike Sullivan said. "This is a new season. This is an important game for us against a division rival that we're going to battle for a playoff spot all year."
MORE FROM THE SKATE
• It was a very lightly-attended morning skate for the Penguins. Participants were Casey DeSmith, Jason Zucker, Chad Ruhwedel, Drew O'Connor, Mark Friedman and Joseph. Evgeni Malkin skated briefly at the beginning in workout clothes, likely just breaking in or testing some new skates.
• Jeff Petry skated before the skate on his own, the first time he's skated since suffering an injury to the arm/wrist/hand area on Dec. 10.
• Zucker (lower-body) and Josh Archibald (lower-body) are both game-time decisions, Mike Sullivan said. Zucker suffered his injury in the Penguins' game against the Stars last Monday and was considered "week-to-week" two days later. He resumed practicing with the team on Monday. Archibald missed Monday's practice because he was still being evaluated for a lower-body injury.
• Jarry will start for the Penguins, Shesterkin will start for the Rangers.
• The Rangers had a full morning skate. Rangers forward Filip Chytil was questionable for this game after a high hit last game but the Rangers' line rushes indicate he's playing:
Artemi Panarin - Mika Zibanejad - Barclay Goodrow
Alexis Lafreniere - Filip Chytil - Kaapo Kakko
Chris Kreider - Vince Trocheck - Jimmy Vesey
Sammy Blais - Jonny Brodzinski - Vitali Kravtsov - Julien Gauthier
• Malkin (1,178) enters tonight's game just one point away from tying Sergei Fedorov (1,179) for the second-most points by any Russian-born player in NHL history. Alex Ovechkin (1,466) ranks first.
