BROADWAY AFFAIR

The Penguins come out on top of the Rangers for the 5th time this season in a feisty affair courtesy of a Jordan Staal OT winner.

by Adam Bernard

The words of Pedro Martinez come to mind when the Rangers and Penguins get together. He said "The Yankees are my daddy" towards the end of his tenure with the Red Sox. Well, the Penguins are the Rangers daddy, and that was on display, yet again, at the World's Most Famous Arena last night.

Lets start with some basic numbers. Henrik Lundqvist made 50 saves...AND HE STILL LOST. Granted, Pittsburgh scored five times, but at least give the man some Kevlar if he's going to be in a shooting gallery. In the other crease, Marc-Andre Fleury only made 8 saves on 12 shots before being yanked and Brent Johnson only needed to face four shots. I just don't get how a team, whose head coach's philosophy when it comes to pushing the puck up the ice "Safe is Death" only musters 16 shots on net. It also looked like the Rangers wore down a bit at the end of the game, and Coach Tortorella won't take kindly to that. By the way, the last time the Rangers allowed that many shots in a game was against the Cancuks back in January of 1991 when Vancouver sprayed 62 shots on net.

After an exciting 1st period that was tied at 2 heading in to the intermission and some physical, chippy play early on with Sidney Crosby and Henrik Lundqivst (and if this type of game works for the Pens against the Rangers, expect it every time they meet...which probably won't be until next season). People are going to focus on Crosby's dive from a Marc Staal hit and then Henrik Lundqvist getting in Crosby's face. With Crosby, I'm already at the point with him where it's old news. He's the Tim Duncan of the NHL. Crosby schmoozes the refs and gets all the calls because he's Sidney Crosby. No use in crying over spilled milk, so get used to it. Unlike past incidents with the Rangers (see Marian Gaborik in Philadelphia), this team was quick to respond.

The Rangers finish the season series with Pittsburgh winning only once while the Penguins won five times and earned a point in the OT loss to the blueshirts. It doesn't get any easier for the Rangers who head to Washington on Saturday and host the Sabres on Sunday. We've seen the Rangers put themselves in a hole and then make a strong finish down the stretch to make the playoffs. They're lucky that the bottom half of the East is so tight that they just need to weather the storm of this portion of the schedule before they make their annual March push. For Pittsburgh, they head home for weekend games with Dallas and Boston before a stretch of eight games with seven on the road.

OTHER ACTION:
Capitals 5 - Lightning 4
Bruins 3 - Maple Leafs 2 - (SO)
Hurricanes 4 - Senators 1
Thrashers 6 - Islanders 3
Predators 4 - Kings 2
Blues 6 - Stars 1
Coyotes 3 - Avalanche 1
Sharks 3 - Canadiens 2

TODAY'S ACTION
Flyers @ Sabres - 7:30PM
Predators @ Red Wings - 7:30PM
Canucks @ Blackhawks - 8:30PM
Devils @ Flames - 9PM
Wild @ Oilers - 9PM