3 Keys: Penguins at Rangers, Game 7 of Eastern First Round

(3M) Penguins at (2M) Rangers
7 p.m. ET; TBS, SN360, SNE, SNO, SNP, MSG, ATTSN-PT
Best-of-7 series tied 3-3

Back-to-back come-from-behind wins have put the New York Rangers in position to become the 31st team in NHL history to win a best-of-7 series in the Stanley Cup Playoffs after trailing 3-1 when they play the Pittsburgh Penguins in Game 7 of the Eastern Conference First Round at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
The Rangers are 3-0 in Game 7 after rallying from down 3-1 in a series, including a 2-1 win at the Penguins in the second round of the 2014 playoffs. Left wing Chris Kreider is the only current Rangers player who played in that series.
"Being down 3-1 and battling back to get back to a Game 7 is huge for us," Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. "Now we have to make sure we finish it off."
\[RELATED: Complete Rangers vs. Penguins series coverage\]
The Penguins could get reinforcements with center Sidney Crosby, goalie Tristan Jarry and forward Rickard Rakell considered game-time decisions, coach Mike Sullivan said. He would not disclose if Jarry or Louis Domingue would be the starting goalie.
Crosby missed Game 6 because of an upper-body injury sustained during Game 5. Rakell has missed the past five games since sustaining an upper-body injury during Game 1. If Jarry plays, it will be his first game since April 14 because of a lower-body injury. He was 34-18-6 with a 2.42 goals-against average, .919 save percentage and four shutouts in 58 regular-season games.
"Tristan is a good goalie," Sullivan said. "He's had a great year for us. He's learned a lot through his experiences. He's a very capable guy. He's been one of the best goalies in the League this year."
Domingue has started the past five games after replacing Casey DeSmith (core muscle surgery) during Game 1. He is 3-3 with a 3.65 GAA and .898 save percentage in six games during the series.
The Rangers are 7-1 at home in Game 7s in their history. The Penguins are 6-0 on the road.
"When you're growing up as a kid and you're in the driveway or you're on the pond this is what you dream about," Sullivan said. "It's a high stakes environment. It's a Game 7. You're in the NHL. It's an incredible opportunity. It's exciting."
Home teams own a 109-78 (.583) advantage in the 187 all-time Game 7s in the Stanley Cup Playoffs (2-1 in 2021).
The winner will play the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.
Here are 3 keys to Game 7:

1. Crosby's impact if he plays

No skater had a bigger impact in the first five-plus games of the series than Crosby, who is tied for the series lead in points (nine) with Penguins forward Jake Guentzel and Rangers defenseman Adam Fox despite not playing Game 6.
If Crosby returns for Game 7 the Penguins again will try to force Rangers top-line forwards Mika Zibanejad, Kreider and Frank Vatrano to play more in the defensive zone.
Zibanejad, Kreider and Vatrano drew the assignment against Crosby, Guentzel and Bryan Rust in Games 1-5. They scored eight points at even strength compared to 20 for the Penguins' top line.
With Crosby out for Game 6, Zibanejad had two goals and two assists, one each at even strength, and Kreider scored twice, his game-winning goal at 18:32 of the third period at even strength.

2. The start matters

The Rangers rallied to win Games 5 and 6, each 5-3, despite being down 2-0 early. But their resiliency, while strong, is not something they want to test again by falling behind early in Game 7. History would not be on their side.
The team that scores first in a Game 7 is 141-46, including 3-0 in the three Game 7s played Saturday.
"As long as we finish the right way I don't care," Gallant said. "It's all about winning the hockey game. We had some tough starts on the road, but we had some real good starts here. I'm not worried about it.

3. Special teams

The Rangers dominated special teams in Game 6, scoring two power-play goals and killing off three Penguins power plays, including a Pittsburgh 5-on-3 advantage for 1:07 when the game was tied 2-2 in the second.
A similar advantage likely would swing Game 7 in the Rangers favor. The Penguins know that, which is why they're emphasizing the importance of special teams, particularly their penalty kill, which is 50.0 percent in the past two games (3-for-6).
"When you look at the nature of how some of the goals were scored throughout the course of the series, so far a lot of them were off of broken plays," Sullivan said. "It's not so much off of in-zone setups or things of that nature. Two of them are off the rush. One is off an in-zone face-off. It's not like the in-zone [coverage] has been a challenge. The one area where I know we can improve at is when we get opportunities to put pucks 200 feet and get clears, we have to bear down and make sure they get below the goal line."

Penguins projected lineup

Jake Guentzel -- Sidney Crosby -- Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen -- Evgeni Malkin -- Kasperi Kapanen
Jason Zucker -- Jeff Carter -- Brock McGinn
Drew O'Connor -- Teddy Blueger -- Evan Rodrigues
Mike Matheson -- Kris Letang
Mark Friedman -- Chad Ruhwedel
Marcus Pettersson -- John Marino
Louis Domingue
Alex D'Orio
Scratched:Nathan Beaulieu
Injured:Rickard Rakell (upper body), Casey DeSmith (core muscle surgery), Brian Dumoulin (lower body), Brian Boyle (lower body), Tristan Jarry (lower body)

Rangers projected lineup

Chris Kreider -- Mika Zibanejad -- Frank Vatrano
Artemi Panarin -- Ryan Strome -- Andrew Copp
Alexis Lafreniere
-- Filip Chytil -- Kaapo Kakko
Tyler Motte -- Kevin Rooney -- Ryan Reaves
Ryan Lindgren -- Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller -- Jacob Trouba
Justin Braun -- Braden Schneider
Igor Shesterkin
Alexandar Georgiev
Scratched:Patrik Nemeth, Libor Hajek, Greg McKegg, Julien Gauthier, Jonny Brodzinski, Dryden Hunt
Injured:Barclay Goodrow (lower body)

Status report

Crosby, Jarry, a goalie, and Rakell, a forward, each will be a game-time decision, Sullivan said. … Boyle, a forward, is out week to week.