NEW YORK – When healthy and executing, these Pittsburgh Penguins are an imposing force.
And as the New York Rangers are discovering during a first-round series that looks to be headed for a quick conclusion, they are extremely difficult to contain in top form.
That was on full display for two games here at Madison Square Garden, where the Penguins won 8-1 on aggregate to push New York to the edge of elimination. It means that Henrik Lundqvist and Co. may have played at MSG for a final time this season with the series heading to Pittsburgh for Game 5 on Saturday.
The scales really shifted in Pittsburgh’s favour when Evgeni Malkin returned last weekend, and there’s little doubt now that he’s back up to full speed after missing five weeks with a shoulder injury. To see him hammer a slapshot past Lundqvist basically confirmed it.
“When he gets opportunities like that, especially that close, he’s got a great shot,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said after Thursday’s 5-0 victory. “There’s so many other things he’s doing well, but when he’s letting shots go like that – we’re used to seeing that.”
The benefit of Malkin’s return for the Penguins has been two-fold: In addition to possessing the ability to break games open on his own, he’s also spread the Rangers a little thinner.
At five-on-five, they’ve got to contend with one line that features Crosby, one that features Malkin and still another with Phil Kessel.
When Pittsburgh gets a power play, they all get sent out together along with an elite defenceman (Kris Letang) and a player capable of creating space for everyone (Patric Hornqvist).
Both of Malkin’s goals in Game 4 came with the man advantage and pushed his team to 7-for-19 in this series. No wonder they’re on the verge of advancing to the second round. They are complete from top to bottom, particularly with Malkin in the lineup.
“The challenge for us was how do we move (Malkin) into this group where we can settle into some combinations that make us harder to play against, that create more balance for our team and that allows Geno to do what he does best,” said Sullivan. “I think we’ve settled into some line combinations.”
While this was an uncharacteristic performance from the Rangers – and Lundqvist, in particular, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 18 shots – it’s still going to take a monumental effort to put some intrigue into this series.
They’ve now seen the Penguins at near-peak performance and it has to be a scary sight.
Coming home after a 1-1 split to open the series had the Rangers feeling good about their chances. Now they head back wondering if their game has abandoned them or if the opponent is simply too strong.
“At this point, there is no reason or point to try and describe what happened,” said Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh. “We weren’t ourselves out there.”
The game was essentially over by the first intermission. The Penguins got a goal from Eric Fehr just 69 seconds in and continued to come in waves.
Hornqvist had a puck go in off his leg on the power play before speedy winger Conor Sheary – a top-six talent recently elevated to Crosby’s wing – beat Lundqvist short-side on a breakaway.
“Our forwards went to work right away,” said Letang. “Used their speed, put the puck behind (the defencemen) and applied a good forecheck. It kills the offence when you’re able to apply a good forecheck like that.”
“I think our mindset was right,” added Crosby. “We didn’t go in there kind of waiting to see what the game was going to feel like. I thought we dictated things pretty well and got rewarded for it.”
That made the second Stanley Cup playoff start of Matt Murray’s career a touch easier, and he ended up posting a 31-save shutout. It says something about the depth of this team, and of Murray’s ability, that the Penguins lead the series 3-1 despite having Marc-Andre Fleury sidelined with a concussion.
This might be the best they’ve played all season.
“I think it’s really close,” said Hornqvist.
The Rangers erased a 3-1 deficit against Pittsburgh two years ago, and another one vs. the Washington Capitals last year, but it doesn’t look to be in the cards now.
There is something different about these Penguins, who need to be beaten three straight times and haven’t dropped consecutive games since December.
