The Pittsburgh Penguins and NY Rangers are playing on the NHL second round playoffs schedule on Monday night and it comes from Madison Square Garden for Game 3 after playing the last game on Sunday night and the series is now tied 2-2 as the Rangers come home and the game starts up at 7:30 pm ET and has a live stream online from the NBC Sports Network Live Extra website.
The Rangers have had to play a ton of games over the past week and this now will be the sixth in nine games after the team previously played four in six nights and while they have shown that they can overcome that, it will be necessary on Monday night. The teams play at MSG and the Rangers will be looking to hold their home matchups after taking Game 1 as Sidney Crosby tries to snap out of his funk and it could be a huge momentum swing for whoever grabs this game. The Pens seemingly have the momentum after they won Game 2 and that came after three points from Kris Letang, who had two assists and a huge goal in that game.
The Rangers took care of business and won the first game and that came in overtime and for any chance for NY taking the series, they had to win one of those games, so mission accomplished. The team had some decent chances in Game 2, but they never could break through and after going down 2-0 the Pens scored a third goal with an empty netter and now the two sides pick up quickly and have Game 3 on Monday night. This is the second back to back for the Rangers over the past week and they need to get some more scoring from players, including Rick Nash, Martin St. Louis and Brad Richards.
The Rangers have gotten the usual out of Henrik Lundqvist and he helped win Game 1 and now he must rebound from Game 2 as the team looks to take a 2-1 home advantage with a win at the Garden. The Rangers have had trouble over the years winning two games in a row in any series, so they need this game to ensure they keep themselves afloat against the Penguins, who are a superior scoring team and a better seed in the playoffs. Game 4 of the series comes on Wednesday and that will be in NY at the Garden as well and starts up at 7:30 pm ET.
The Rangers have struggled very hard on power plays this playoffs and they will need to get over that soon if they want to win this series, as they are going at 8.1% right now and that is terrible. The team went 0 for 4 in the Game 2 matchup and two of those penalties were right out of the gate and this comes after the team started three for eight to begin the playoffs and that had many thinking things were turning around. The Pens have not been firing on all cylinders as well, as their star in Crosby has not yet scored a goal in the playoffs and while he has been playing heavy minutes and making an impact, it hasn't been on the net.
Check here for the Pittsburgh Penguins and NY Rangers live coverage from NBC.