You know the names, and so do the Rangers:
Sidney Crosby and Evgeny Malkin and Kris Letang. Mike Sullivan behind the bench. Even though so much has changed for the Rangers and Penguins since the last time they met in the playoffs, in 2016, those four are a familiar sight.
“You know Pittsburgh,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said following his team’s 3-2 win Friday over the Capitals in the final game of the regular season.
The past editions of the Penguins are well-known, but the Rangers have gotten quite familiar with the current one, too.
They have faced Pittsburgh four times this season, twice in each team’s respective building. The Penguins took the first meeting, in February. Three of those games were played since March 25, and the Rangers won all three of them, by scores of 5-1, 3-2, 3-0.
“As far as I’m concerned, that’s not in the picture,” Gallant said. “Just cause we beat them the last three, that means nothing to me. Gotta get ready to play a real good team, and it should be a real good series.”
Gallant said that because the Rangers played the Penguins recently, scouting them will be a little easier, but that goes for both teams.
“We’re familiar with what they do and what kind of team that is, but now it’s 0-0,” Mika Zibanejad said. “Everyone starts at zero again. I don’t think that [having played them] makes a huge difference.”
Zibanejad wasn’t here when the Penguins blew by the Rangers in the first round of the playoff in 2016 — the only holdover from that Blueshirts roster is Chris Kreider. But Zibanejad was with the Rangers a year later when the Senators ended their season in the second round. That was the last time playoff hockey was played at Madison Square Garden.
“It’s been a grind,” Zibanejad said. “Been a couple long years. Definitely worth the wait to be back in the playoffs. Looking at this group that we have, I’m super happy I get to be a part of the solution.”
It has been a long road back, but the Rangers enter the postseason looking dangerous. They will open the series as favorites to beat Pittsburgh, and if Igor Shesterkin is at his best in net, they can beat anyone on any night. At 51-24-6, they proved themselves well enough during the regular season that Gallant spent the past couple of weeks trying to make the games meaningful because, in reality, they weren’t.
On paper, the Rangers are a better team than the Penguins, who are dealing with an injured Tristan Jarry in net and a potentially hurt Brian Dumoulin on defense.
But in the playoffs, you can throw that out.
“They’re a talented team, they’re a skilled team,” Gallant said. “They got a lot of experienced guys, but again, I like our team. We got a good mix of young guys that took a step this year for us big-time. I like what we’re gonna bring.”
There is still the matter of Crosby and Malkin and Letang. Their combined age is 104, and their combined playoff experience is 486 games. That experience will feel the same as it did six years ago.
The Rangers, though, will feel completely different.
“You know all those players,” Gallant said. “That doesn’t worry us. We know what they’re gonna bring.
“It’s about what we’re gonna bring. And we’ve done it all season, so we’re ready for this series.”