• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Penguins-Rangers Preview

Mar 4, 2010 - 7:54 PM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

Pittsburgh (37-22-4) at New York (29-27-7), 7:00 p.m. EDT

Looking to move back atop the Atlantic Division, the Pittsburgh Penguins have acquired some help for superstar Sidney Crosby. The surging New York Rangers may again be without their top player, Marian Gaborik, as they face a team that has dominated them of late.

Crosby looks to extend his seven-game point streak against New York as the division rivals conclude their season series Thursday night at Madison Square Garden.

The Penguins (37-22-4) are one point behind New Jersey, which is off Thursday, for the Atlantic lead. Pittsburgh has had little trouble against New York of late, going 7-0-1 in the last eight meetings.

The Rangers, however, finally got a victory in the most recent matchup Feb. 12, winning 3-2 at MSG despite two goals from Crosby.

The Penguins forward has 20 goals and 28 assists in 33 games against the Rangers (29-27-7), and 10 goals and eight assists in the last seven matchups.

Pittsburgh moved to add some offensive depth behind its star Tuesday, acquiring Alexei Ponikarovsky in a three-player deal with Toronto.

The 6-foot-4, 220-pound left wing has 19 goals and 41 points in 61 games. He provides much-needed scoring on the wing, as Ponikarovsky has more goals than any player at that position on Pittsburgh's roster.

"He's a good, hard-working winger who drives to the net hard, he has good size, he's a good player," said Penguins left wing Ruslan Fedotenko, who grew up with Ponikarovsky in Kiev, Ukraine. "I feel like he's a good addition for us."

Ponikarovsky is expected to play on a line with Fedotenko and center Evgeni Malkin, who has eight goals and 15 assists during a 14-game point streak - one shy of his personal best set from Oct. 23-Nov. 22, 2007. He won't make his Penguins debut Thursday, however.

Malkin and Crosby each had an assist Tuesday, while Fedotenko scored the winner midway through the third period of a 3-2 victory over Buffalo.

The Rangers, tied with Boston for eighth place in the Eastern Conference, may not have Gaborik as they seek a fourth consecutive win.

The right wing, who leads the team with 35 goals and 69 points, has missed three of four games due to a cut on his right knee suffered in a collision with teammate Henrik Lundqvist last month.

Gaborik, however, played through the injury during the Olympics and had four goals and one assist in seven games for Slovakia.

New York was able to overcome his absence Tuesday, getting two goals from Ryan Callahan in a 4-1 win over Ottawa. The right wing credited his third multi-goal game of the season to having played for the United States in the Olympics.

Callahan and the U.S. team lost 3-2 in overtime to Canada in the gold-medal game, won by Crosby in the extra period.

"I think right when I jumped on the ice I was still competing at that speed and that level, and I found it helped me out a lot," said Callahan, second on the Rangers with 17 goals. "I think that's one of the biggest things I tried to bring back, was not to have that sudden letdown where you don't keep your speed up and your game up, and I think that was one of the reasons I was successful."

Callahan does not have a point in five meetings with Pittsburgh this season.