ARE THE PENS IN TROUBLE???

Photo Credit: Nick Wass/ Associated Press

By Chris Carrano

There are only two teams that the Pittsburgh Penguins haven’t beaten yet this season and that grim fact may have an effect on them come payoff time. In nine games against the New Jersey Devils and Washington Capitals, the Penguins have compiled an 0-7-2 record, having lost all six regular season meetings to the Devils.

The Penguins, however, have one more meeting against the Capitals in Pittsburgh and according to Pierre LeBrun of ESPN.com, the Pens need to win this game if they want to restore some measure of confidence in themselves. Even though they are the defending Stanley Cup champions, heading into the postseason having lost all ten games to Washington and New Jersey will bear some significant weight on their minds.

The game proved to be another classic battle between the two teams and the NHL’s two superstars. The Penguins had a 2-1 lead after the second period, but Alexander Semin tied the game with what the Associated Press described as “one of the best individual short-handed efforts of the year”. He picked off a pass from Crosby deep in the Capitals' end, skated the length of the ice weaving around and through the Penguins' power-play unit and then unleashed a wrister from the slot that found the upper right-hand corner of the net.

That wasn’t the only lead the Penguins would blow. After Pittsburgh’s Jordan Staal tied the game late in the third period, the two teams battled to an overtime stalemate. The Penguins then went up 2-0 in the shootout on goals by Kris Letang and Sidney Crosby. The Caps answered right back with three straight goals from Alexander Ovechkin, Semin and the eventual game winner from Mike Knuble.

Not everyone in Steeltown is worried though. Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes that the 4-3 loss last night at the Verizon Center just might turn out to be one of the pivotal moments in their season: in a positive way. Molinari writes that the Penguins did a lot of good things on the ice in competing for a full 65-minutes against the NHL’s top point producing team. Despite playing without Sergei Gonchar and Evgeni Malkin, the Penguins competed on even or better terms.

At the very least, the point they earned when Jordan Staal tied the score with 3:06 left in regulation boosted them back into first place in the Atlantic Division, one point ahead of New Jersey. The Devils, though, have played two fewer games.

But the impact of this kind of performance, accomplished without two guys who contribute a lot of quality minutes, could be felt long after the current standings have been forgotten.

"For a lot of reasons, that's the type of game we expect from our team, and the way we can play," coach Dan Bylsma said. "The way we played, that's the way we need to play to play our game. Getting to our game, we did that for long stretches. And we responded when things didn't go well, stuck with our game."

So mark April 6th on your calendars hockey fans. It’s the last tune-up between these two teams before the playoffs get here. Let’s all hope they meet again in May.

OTHER SCORES

NY RANGERS 5, NY Islanders 0
BUFFALO 3, Montreal 2
DETROIT 4, St. Louis 2
COLORADO 4, Los Angeles 3
VANCOUVER 4, Anaheim 3

TONIGHT’S GAMES

Intriguing matchups abound tonight as the playoffs draw near. The Rangers, Thrashers and Bruins all play tonight as each team battles for the eighth and final playoff spot in the East. Out West, Phoenix, Chicago and San Jose all take to the ice tonight as they jockey for position in the race for the Western Conference’s number one seed.

Tampa Bay at Boston 7:00 PM
Washington at Carolina 7:00 PM
NY Rangers at New Jersey 7:00 PM
Calgary at NY Islanders 7:00 PM
Minnesota at Philadelphia 7:00 PM
Toronto at Atlanta 7:00 PM
Chicago at Columbus 7:00 PM
Florida at Montreal 7:30 PM
Los Angeles at St. Louis 8:00 PM
Phoenix at Nashville 8:00 PM
Dallas at San Jose 10:30 PM

STICK A FORM IN 'EM...

(Photo credit: New York Post/ Reuters)

By Chris Carrano

...RANGERS ARE DONE

They may not be mathematically eliminated from playoff contention yet, but with the way they’ve played all season long, that five point lead the Bruins hold on them for the final playoff spot looks more like 15. The Rangers squandered a huge opportunity to gain ground in the playoff race as they fell 2-1 to the Boston Bruins yesterday afternoon on national television. Now, they may have to make their playoff push without the help of Ryan Callahan, one of their better players for the season. Callahan left the game after he collided with Boston’s hulking defenseman Zdeno Chara in the second period.

As has happened so many times this season, the Ranger’s dismal power play reared its ugly head again. With Chara off the ice for a double minor, the Blueshirts couldn’t manage to get a shot on goal. I’ll rephrase that another way: In four minutes of having a one-man advantage, the Rangers couldn’t make Bruin’s goalie Tuuka Rask work for his money. Instead, they wasted ours. Even Ronnie from the Jersey Shore would’ve been able to get “one shot, bro” against the Bruins. The Rangers also had a 5-on-3 advantage for 11 seconds and didn’t manage a shot on net as well. It was only 11 seconds, but still. The Great One, Wayne Gretzky, once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” When will the Rangers realize that by putting pucks on the net, one of them is bound to go in?

It wasn’t only the power play that struggled, there were many communication lapses all over the ice that it was hard to tell if the Bruins were playing against the New York Rangers or the New York Mets. The first of Boston’s two goals came at 16:36 of the second period when Miro Satan, who the Ranger’s left wide-open, took a left-circle feed from Andrew Ference and slammed it home. Satan was left alone, wrote Larry Brooks of the New York Post, after Marc Staal drifted to the opposite side of the net. Chris Drury was late picking up Satan, but the captain perhaps was covering for Ryan Callahan.

Boston’s second goal, and the eventual game winner, came when Dennis Wideman back-handed a shot from the left circle past a screened Henrik Lundqvist. Who provided the screen? None other that Lundqvist’s own teammate, Olli Jokinen. That's a hard one," said John Tortorella. "I'm upset about the second goal, too - we have our coverage and some player gets glued in on the puck who shouldn't be."

So much for the “Game 7” mentality the Rangers talked about before the game. Henrik Lundqvist, who can’t be blamed for how this season has gone so far, did his best yesterday in making 29 saves, including a penalty shot save on Danny Paille. When asked whether it would be an effort to stay positive from here on out, Lundqvist replied, "It's been an effort the last few weeks to stay positive and see good things."

Yes ladies and gentleman, this is the team that Glen Sather put together. I never thought I would say this, but I hope the Rangers miss the playoffs this season. If they somehow make it, they’re not going to get past the first round. All it would do is put more money in James Dolan’s pocket and justify him keeping Sather around for another year. In order for the upper management (or mis-management) in the Rangers organization to wake up, they need to be hit where it would hurt the most: in their wallets. It’s absurd that they would ask some season subscribers for $3,600 for tickets for all four rounds of the playoffs. Since they have done so, the Blueshirts have only won one game. It’s going to be okay though. In a few short weeks, Opening Day will be upon us!

OTHER SCORES

MINNESOTA 4, Calgary 3
Buffalo 5, CAROLINA 3
FLORIDA 5, Tampa Bay 2
Nashville 3, ST. LOUIS 2
Atlanta 3, PHILADELPHIA 1
Phoenix 3, DALLAS 2
EDMONTON 5, San Jose 1
ANAHEIM 5, Colorado 2 (Teemu Selannne scored his 600th career NHL goal)

TONIGHT'S GAMES

Pittsburgh at Detroit 7pm VERSUS
Ottawa at Montreal 7:30 pm
Colorado at Los Angeles 10:30 pm