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6 Keys to the Rangers taking down the Pittsburgh Penguins
Bobby Bevilacqua
If the Rangers want to celebrate a series win, here’s what they need to do to take down the Pittsburgh Penguins in the first round of the playoffs. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
With the home ice advantage, many people are expecting the President’s Trophy winning Rangers to come away with an easy series win over Pittsburgh. But like Sidney Crosby said, it doesn’t matter how a team gets in. Once they’re in the playoffs, anything can happen.
For the first time in a while, the Penguins are coming into the playoffs as underdogs. If they embrace that mentality, using the lower amount of pressure to motive them, and Crosby and Malkin can explode offensively, it will be an interesting series.
But with a ton of injuries on the backend, not a lot of depth scoring, and question marks coming into game one, there is a big opportunity for the Rangers to pounce on a fragile Penguins team and advance to the second round.
This is what the Rangers need to in order to do defeat the Pittsburgh Penguins. Read the rest of this entry
Series Preview, Round 1: Rangers vs. Penguins
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers and the Penguins will meet again in the postseason for the second consecutive year. This time, the Rangers look to have the advantage, with the Penguins a depleted, and seemingly weaker team than last season. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
After a crazy end to the regular season, the season closed with the Pittsburgh Penguins in the final Wild Card spot, meaning that for the second consecutive season, the Rangers and the Penguins will face off in the playoffs, this time in the first round.
Last year’s series against the Penguins was one of the most memorable in the entire postseason run for New York. After starting the series with the “double-goal” from Beniot Pouliot and Derick Brassard in overtime, the Rangers dropped the next three games, finding themselves in a 3-1 hole.
After the passing of newly acquired Martin St. Louis’ mother, France, his teammates rallied around the unfortunate tragedy. The Blueshirts won game five on the road, and came back to Madison Square Garden for Game 6 on Mother’s Day, where St. Louis scored an emotional goal en route to a win. Thanks to goals from Brad Richards and Brian Boyle in Game 7 in Pittsburgh, and a spectacular goaltending performance from Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers completed the comeback to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers dominate in Pittsburgh; Stepan and Nash with two goals
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers dominated the Penguins for their 15th win in their last 18 games, continuing their climb to the top of the Metropolitan Division. Photo courtesy of Getty Images.
The Rangers (26-13-4) finished off their road trip strong, with a dominating 5-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins (26-12-4) at the CONSOL Energy Arena. The Rangers scored 26 seconds into the game, and never gave up the lead.
The two points puts the Rangers in a tie for third place with the Washington Capitals for third place in the Metropolitan division with two games in hand. It also puts them just two games behind the Penguins, who have won just four games in their last 12. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers set to take on Penguins on the road; Stepan and Kreider red-hot
Bobby Bevilacqua
The last time that the Rangers and Penguins matched up, Kevin Klein blasted an overtime winning slap shot past Marc-Andre Fleury, giving the Rangers a 4-3 victory. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
Following their win in Columbus, the Rangers (25-13-4) will finish their road trip against their division rivals, the Pittsburgh Penguins (26-11-6), who sit just four points ahead of the Rangers in the Metropolitan Division standings.
The Penguins are coming off of a crushing loss to the New York Islanders, giving up a 3-2 lead with four Islanders goals in the third period. Marc-Andre Fleury gave up five goals on 34 shots, and All-Star Sidney Crosby finished the game with two goals and an assist, giving him 50 points (14-36-50) on the season. Crosby also has an impressive 12 points in his last six games. Read the rest of this entry
Rangers avoid collapse with a Kevin Klein overtime winner; Nash scores 18th
Bobby Bevilacqua
The Rangers secured a win on home ice against the Pittsburgh Penguins, thanks to an overtime slap shot from Kevin Klein. The Rangers will play the next four games on the road. Photo courtesy of MSG Photos.
The Rangers (12-10-4) lost another lead late in the game, but managed to find a way to beat the Penguins (18-6-3) thanks to a goal in overtime from Kevin Klein.
The Rangers surrendered the first goal of the game, but scored three straight after that before surrendering two late in the third. The last two goals were due to defensive miscues and mistakes. This season, when the Rangers have made mistakes, it winds up in their own net, and that’s what happened tonight. Read the rest of this entry
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