When the puck finally drops at 8:25 PM for Game 2, the Pens and Rangers will have waited long enough. Due to the NHL schedule the Draft Lottery at 8 PM featuring the Sabres, Coyotes, Oilers, Maple Leafs, Devils, Flyers and a host of other teams, all eyes will be on who wins the lottery for Connor McDavid and Jack Eichel. At least Buffalo can only drop down to two. So, they’re guaranteed McDavid or Eichel. Brian’s been eyeing this day.

While that should be a circus, it’s a bit perplexing why the Pens and Rangers have to wait until almost 8:30 EST for the puck drop. But this is the NHL. Where they can schedule two Game 2’s at the same time (3 PM) against each other. At last check, Tampa was up 4-0 on Detroit while St. Louis is shutting out Minnesota 2-0.

As for Game 2 of tonight’s series, there’ll be no changes for either side. The Pens remain without defensemen Christian Ehrhoff and Derrick Pouliot. That means more of Taylor Chorney and Brian Dumoulin on the third pair. For the Rangers, it’s status quo with iron man Dan Girardi fine despite taking a puck to the jaw that cost him the final 9:29 of Game 1. After a dentist examined him, he was actually going to return but by the time he put half his jersey on, there was a minute left.

Kevin Klein remains out which means more of Matt Hunwick paired up with Keith Yandle, who had a good first game assisting on Ryan McDonagh’s power play game-winner. Glen Sather’s big acquisition at the trade deadline for top prospect Anthony Duclair, John Moore and first round picks was solid logging 20:38 in 26 shifts including 6:21 on the power play. Alain Vigneault didn’t hesitate to use Yandle with McDonagh for a critical defensive shift late. He shuffled the deck. Dan Boyle, who struggled much of Game 1, made a good defensive play in crunch time. He still must be better.

Pens’ coach Mike Johnston indicated that his team needs more shots on Henrik Lundqvist. They took 25 in Game 1. Johnston would like that total to increase by 10. Figure Pittsburgh to come harder and start firing away. They also want to stay disciplined. Penalty trouble was the story of the first game. They lost their composure taking four straight minors in the first which cost them. Afterwards, they played better actually outscoring the Rangers 1-0 the last two periods.

Figure Sidney Crosby to be more involved. He had only one shot and played under 20 minutes due to the Pens’ lack of discipline. Evgeni Malkin was more noticeable getting a couple of dangerous chances including a near miss on a strong rush to the net forcing Lundqvist into a difficult save with Marc Staal clearing the rebound. Limiting their space remains a tough assignment that includes attention from the forwards.

The Rangers were happy with most of their play that included 38 shots on Marc-Andre Fleury, who was sharp making 36 saves. He gave his team a chance. However, they want to limit the giveaways. Eleven is too many. The Pens did a good job in the neutral zone bottling the Rangers up. Puck management is essential.

They weren’t able to get to any rebounds the last 40 minutes. It was mostly one and done with the Pens able to clear the puck out of trouble. The Blueshirts want to get back to using their skating legs and applying pressure to a thin Pittsburgh D corps. They also might want to finish more. Create some doubt. Don’t give the Pens any reason to believe they can win.

It would be refreshing to see the power play generate more shots than the six they had in five tries. At least they converted on one to win by the final margin. Pittsburgh does have a good penalty kill and they won a lot of big defensive draws and outhustled the Rangers. However, the home team was a bit too passive. Get traffic in front and shoot more.

Discipline wasn’t an issue with the only penalty called on Rick Nash for boarding in the offensive zone. With Max Lapierre, Steve Downie and Brandon Sutter looking to get underneath their skin, the Rangers must skate away. Play smart hockey. They’re the hunted.

We’ll see what transpires tonight.