Nov 30, 2009 2:02 pm US/Eastern
Penguins Vs. Rangers Preview
By: Casey Shea
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) ―
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Matt Cooke No. 24 of the Pittsburgh Penguins mixes it up with Ryan Callahan No. 24 of the New York Rangers in the third period at Mellon Arena on Nov. 28, 2009, in Pittsburgh.
Justin K. Aller/Getty Images
The Pittsburgh Penguins will be back in action Monday night when they travel to New York City to take on the Rangers to conclude a home-and-home series.
The Pens
blew out the Rangers 8-3 on Saturday at Mellon Arena and will look to sweep the mini series tonight.
Matt Cooke will not be in the lineup after being suspended for two games by the NHL for a hit on Artem Anisimov in the third period.
Cooke caught Anisimov with his head down in the neutral zone and appeared to hit him in the head. Whether intentional or not, the league is cracking down on those kinds of hits and Cooke will miss tonight's game and Thursday's game against Colorado.
He is eligible to return on Saturday against Chicago and Chris Bourque is expected to take his vacant spot on the ice.
According to the Penguins official Website, Cooke will also miss out on $29,268.30 in salary from the two games.
On Saturday, the Penguins exploded in the third period for four goals to pull away. Sidney Crosby also scored two goals in the period to complete his fourth hat trick of his career.
Marc-Andre Fleury won his 15th game of the season on his 25th birthday. Near the end of the game the fans started chanting "Happy Birthday" and erupted every time he touched the puck.
Tonight's game figures to be an intense battle as the Rangers are no doubt unhappy with their performance on Saturday.
Tempers started to flare near the end of the game when Cooke fought Ryan Callahan. Both players were sent to the showers midway through the third period.
Moments later, Sean Avery took a cheap shot on Ruslan Fedotenko and was ejected as well.
Rangers' toughguy Donald Brashear was looking for a fight with Cooke after the hit on Anisimov, but would not engage Eric Godard on a couple of occasions after Cooke's fight.
Henrik Lundqvist, who did not play Saturday, will be in net tonight. In his last start, he gave up four goals on 22 shots against the Tampa Bay Lightning on Friday.
Lundqvist is 11-9-1 with a 2.68 GAA and .912 save percentage this season.
Against Pittsburgh he is 15-10-0-3 with a 2.29 GAA and .912 save percentage.
In nine starts this month, Lundqvist has allowed three or more goals on six occasions.
For Pittsburgh, Alex Goligoski will sit out tonight's game and will be replaced by Jay McKee.
There is no word on Goligoski's apparent injury at this time.
The puck will drop on Broadway at 7 p.m. and can be seen on FSN Pittsburgh.
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