Rangers try to stay alive in Pittsburgh
Posted: Sun May 4 10:49 AM
(Sports Network) - The second-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins will again try to end the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals this afternoon, when they welcome the New York Rangers for Game 5 at Mellon Arena.
The Penguins, champions of the Atlantic Division, won the first three games of this series before getting shut out in Thursday's Game 4 meeting at Madison Square Garden.
To win this series, the fifth-seeded Rangers need to become just the third team in NHL history to erase an 0-3 deficit to take a playoff series. However, the Penguins are one of the two clubs to blow a 3-0 edge, as they lost in seven games to the New York Islanders in the 1975 quarterfinals. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs also overcame the 0-3 hole to defeat Detroit in the Stanley Cup finals.
If necessary, Game 6 of this series will take place Monday night in Manhattan.
The Rangers cut the series' deficit to 3-1 in Thursday's test at MSG. Henrik Lundqvist stopped all 29 shots he faced for his second career postseason shutout to lead the Blueshirts to a 3-0 home victory over the Penguins.
Jaromir Jagr scored twice and assisted on Brandon Dubinsky's goal for the Rangers. Lundqvist was especially sharp late in the second period, when he stopped two breakaways, one of which was a penalty shot by Hart Trophy finalist Evgeni Malkin. Lundqvist improved his career playoff record to 11-11.
Meanwhile, Jagr continued his superb postseason and now has five goals and 10 assists in nine playoff games this year. He has seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in the four games during the current round.
Marc-Andre Fleury allowed two goals on 33 shots for the Penguins, who fell to 7-1 in this year's postseason, ending the franchise's longest winning streak to begin a playoff year. Pittsburgh is trying to get to the conference finals for the first time since 2001, when it was bounced out by New Jersey.
The Penguins were shut out for the first time since ending the regular season with a 2-0 loss to Philadelphia.
New York will have to pull off its monumental comeback without forward Sean Avery, who is out for the remainder of the playoffs after being hospitalized Wednesday morning with a lacerated spleen. Avery was injured during Tuesday's Game 3 and was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. Although Avery is still in the hospital, he was recently moved out of the intensive care unit.
Avery, who had seven points in eight playoff games this year, is expected to make a full recovery.
The Rangers are in the conference semifinals for the second straight year, as they defeated Atlanta in the opening round a year ago before falling to Buffalo in the second stage. The Blueshirts haven't made it past the second round since losing to Philadelphia in the 1997 conference finals.
Pittsburgh is 3-0 all-time against the Rangers in the postseason, with the Pens' last victory coming in five games during the 1996 conference semifinals.
New York went 5-3 against the Penguins this year and the Blueshirts allowed Pittsburgh to score more than three goals against them just once during the regular season.
Pittsburgh had a solid 26-10-5 record as the hosts this season, while the Rangers were just 17-14-10 as the road club.