Rangers Vs. Penguins: Keys To The Game

The New York Rangers will be matching up with the Pittsburgh Penguins tonight in a very crucial Atlantic Division game. The Penguins are coming into this game winning nine of their last ten games, and the Rangers are currently riding a two game winning streak. The Rangers announced earlier that there will be no Ryan Callahan, or Michael Del Zotto tonight for the New York Rangers. With that said, here are tonight's keys to the game.

Top Line Needs To Continue Production: The New York Rangers top line of Carl Hagelin, Brad Richards, and Marian Gaborik has been phenomenal over the last two games. They combined for all four goals against the Carolina Hurricanes on Tuesday night as well. Without Ryan Callahan, and Michael Del Zotto to provide some extra offense, the top line will need to stay hot tonight.

Defense Needs To Be Lights Out: I'm pretty sure everyone who follows an NHL team, knows that Sidney Crosby will be making his return to the Penguins line-up tonight. With that said, the Rangers defense will have their hands full tonight with the likes of Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, etc. They need to be exceptional tonight, and help Martin Biron out, if they want to come away with two points.