New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins
The Rangers were forced to go seven games against the Flyers in the first round, giving them just one day off between the first and second round. The Penguins have had a few days off. For the first game at least, this should make a difference.
The big concern for New York is whether or not their top line can really get going. The Derek Stepan line had a lot of opportunities against Philadelphia, and they converted a few. But Rick Nash had zero goals on 30 shots. If he can’t get going, it’ll be on the depth players of the Rangers to outscore the Penguins. That could be a tall order. Another big concern for the Rangers is that the power play went 0-for-17 in their final five games last series. They won’t be able to run-and-gun with the Penguins at even strength, at least early in the series, so I don’t think they score much in Game 1.
Pittsburgh really started to step on the throat of Columbus as the series wore on. Save for some fumbles by goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and a miraculous third period comeback in Game 6, Pittsburgh was filling the net. Even without a goal from Sidney Crosby, the Penguins still managed 3.5 goals for/game against the Jackets. The power play also converted six times in six games (though the penalty kill gave up seven). If anything, the Penguins should score a lot of goals in this one. There are ways to figure out how to stack at least two-thirds of the top line in GPPs, though I would avoid Fleury pretty much every game this series.
| Top RW Value | Top LW Value | Top C Value | Top D Value | Bargain Bin |
| Rick Nash(NYR)
$10,228 |
Chris Kunitz(PIT)
$12,274 |
Evgeni Malkin(PIT)
$14,893 |
Kris Letang(PIT)
$8297 |
Derick Brassard(NYR)
$5703 |
