Penguins finish off Rangers

The Rangers are out of the playoffs in the second round for the second year in a row after their 3-2 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins this afternoon at Mellon Arena.

Instead of continuing the organizational upswing that began with making the playoffs two years ago, they took a step back, being eliminated in five games a year after they pushed Buffalo to six games in the same round. That's particularly disappointing after the bar was raised last summer with the signings of Chris Drury and Scott Gomez.

They were defeated by a younger and more-talented Penguins' team that continues to be the favorite to reach the Stanley Cup Finals from the Eastern Conference.

Before the series, I picked the Rangers to win in seven games because I thought they had a huge advantage in net with Henrik Lundqvist, but that advantage didn't come into play until that last two games. Marc-Andre Fleury looked shaky today for the first time in the series. The Rangers didn't take enough shots, however, to exploit that. They went more 16 minutes without a shot, including the last 14:50 of a second period that the Penguins' thoroughly dominated.

I have a feeling that Fleury and Martin Biron might not have much goaltending magic left for the conference finals. Don't be surprised if you see some 6-5 games in that series.

The Rangers had no answer to Evgeni Malkin, who had four goals in the series and had 10 shots on net today. Marian Hossa didn't have a great series, but scored two goals today, including the winner 7:10 into overtime. Hossa could have had four or five goals today. Lundqvist robbed him a few times. Hossa said he missed his shot on the game-winner. He wanted to shoot high -- which is what Lundqvist read -- and misfired. The puck went five hole instead.

Other than that span of 1:22 in the third period when the Rangers scored both of their goals, they didn't have a great game offensively. Nigel Dawes scored the second goal, but had fired wide on a golden opportunity late in the first period.

For the most part, the Penguins' younger legs won out.

Now, we wait to see if Jaromir Jagr and Brendan Shanahan want to come back annd if the Rangers want them back.

Comments

[alzheimers]

Schadenfreude

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schadenfreude

I have it.

[Jon]

Whew thanx pens!

[Jeff O.]

TG, prediction for Pens/Flyers?

[Grant]

Finally they are eliminated

[SC]

"Five Hole Henrik" or the "Crying Swede" to replace "The King" as Henrik's new nickname?

[modnarm]

goodness its about time. can't stand watching the rags live on. thankful the penguins have stiffled their petty trite attempts to win a cup.

[midnight]

In the meanwhile, back at the Devils - anything new TG?

[mikeK]

Back at the Devils... Elias broke his drought and got a Birdie! :(

[MikeP]

so what the chances that Lou takes a run at Jagr this offseason, especially if he deals Gio for a #1 center or defenseman ? Jagr has his mood swings, but he may feel disrespected by Sather, and may just want to stick it to him. Plus he could play with his fellow countryman (Elias), and JJ might even be more tempted if Lou tries to acquire Nylander from the Caps

should be an interesting offseason for both the Devils and Rangers

as for this playoffs, the Pens had a hard time playing the Flyers this season, but I think there's something magical about this Pens team, Pens in 7 over the Flyers (a team that's really showed me something in the playoffs)

Detroit over Pitt in the finals in 5 though, there's no stopping the mule!!! lol

[HoOn]

Thank you Penguins! ;)

It'll be a good matchup between the flyers and the pens. I might have to go with the flyers on this one. Lately they are playing really good hockey especially Biron. The flyers aren't the same team that the Devils have been beating up on during the season. I'll say Flyers in 6. :) I prefer to watch the Devils in the playoffs but I guess I'll have to wait until next year. Go Devils! ;)

[FTC]

YAAAAAAAY! Does this mean we finally get our TG back?!!

[e-max]

Everyone, please, let's hear a standing ovation for the Penguins for putting to bed the Rags and their *arrogant* (my best to keep it clean) fans.

[Zavior]

So long Rangers. You beat down a rebuilding Devils team then got your rear end handed to you by this years Ottawa Senators aka Pittsburgh Penguins. I loved the battle between Jagr and Ruutu, that is old school yapping at it's best.
Not the dumb Avery type.

Flyers vs. Penguins will be a awesome season, I also feel that Flyers have the momentum and are running on all cylinders. Biron looks good in net for them too. Of course and Devils vs Flyers eastern conference final battle would have brought warmth to my heart but we will have to wait until next season for that.

As for the Devils, it's been quite on there end, no news about contract talk between Lou and Pando, Brylin or Salvador. TG, do you know if Lou will try to re-sign any current players before the playoffs are done? or if he will wait for it to end...

I am wishing that Brylin does not returns as Sutter perfers to keep the Devils younger and faster which is why Penguings are running over everyone. Brylin has always been a great team player and loyal guy but the team dearly needs speep and offensive savy players (like Parise) to help the Devils break out of there defensive style funk.

I would like to see a full season of Salvador on the blue line and possibly another season of Zuburus to see if the will adjust to the Devils style, if not they can trade him next trading deadline.

I am not going to try and guess what player(s) Lou will bring in for help becuase I usually (and most Devils fan) end up being wrong. I am looking more towards this years draft to see what Davie Conte and the rest of the Devils scouts pick up for the future. Their are a lot of good young prospects this year so my recommendation to Lou, would be to trade away bubble players (Asham, VV, Tallackson) and get atleast another 2nd round draft pick from someone, since no one will give up their 1st round pick unless they get some talent back, we the Devils are lacking themselves.

Zavior

[RJ Arditti(pens in 5)]

i personally like "five hole Henrik THE Crying Swede" combine the both, and we get a song title! now who wants to write the song? maybe using the tune to Frost the snowman? Just a thought

[RJ Arditti(pens in 5)]

oh and TG are you going to work the conference finals for the record as well?

[RJ Arditti(pens in 5)]

Also i don;t know why everyone wants to run sarge out of NJ. i thought he was great as a 4th liner, and he was great when we had injuries in plugging certain holes in our forward lines when they occured. Also i think sutter likes brylin, and his experience or he would have benched him and brought up someone younger. that said i think sarge stays, as does pando

[MikeP]

Z, Tallackson is a UFA, he won't be back next year, just like Asham

RJ agree with you about Sarge, he deserves to come back, because everyteam needs a selfless player like him who will play wherever he's asked without question, he can fill-in in a pinch wherever you ask of him, just don't expect it to stay for long-periods of time. He should be brought back to play either on the 3rd or 4th line.

Lou had better be talking to Pando's agent right now, he'll never be the goal scorer he was in college, but he's another heart-and-soul player who plays his heart out everynight, plus he's a very good on the PK with Madden. How quickly we forgot how well he was playing last season until he tripped and fell into the boards, and he obviously wan't full recovered from that injury by the end of the season

it would be a waste for Bergfors or Vrana to play on the 4th line, since 5 minutes a game of ice time wouldn't help them learn in the NHL, they should break in with more minutes. A guy like Palmieri, a power forward, might be better for the slow adjustment on the 4th line.

[MikeP]

Z, Tallackson is a UFA, he won't be back next year, just like Asham

RJ agree with you about Sarge, he deserves to come back, because everyteam needs a selfless player like him who will play wherever he's asked without question, he can fill-in in a pinch wherever you ask of him, just don't expect it to stay for long-periods of time. He should be brought back to play either on the 3rd or 4th line.

Lou had better be talking to Pando's agent right now, he'll never be the goal scorer he was in college, but he's another heart-and-soul player who plays his heart out everynight, plus he's a very good on the PK with Madden. How quickly we forgot how well he was playing last season until he tripped and fell into the boards, and he obviously wan't full recovered from that injury by the end of the season

it would be a waste for Bergfors or Vrana to play on the 4th line, since 5 minutes a game of ice time wouldn't help them learn in the NHL, they should break in with more minutes. A guy like Palmieri, a power forward, might be better for the slow adjustment on the 4th line.

[RJ Arditti(pens in 5)]

Mike, you hit the nail right on the head with Pando's injury, normally that injury is supposed to take 6 months to heal, and he was back on the ice in 2 months, so he really rushed himself back,and i expect him to be back to his selke trophy finest next season after he is fully healed.

[RJ Arditti(5hole henrik the crying swede)]

If Mark Streit doesn;t resign with the Habs, i think Lou should look into bringing him here as well. good solid D man who can hit

[TG]

I believe Tallackson is a restricted free agent -- not unrestricted. So, unless the Devils decide not to offer him a qualifying offer or he decides to play in Europe, he'll probably be back -- unless they trade him.

Asham is unrestricted and probably won't be back.

I will not be covering the conference finals as of right now.

I'll think about my prediction on the Flyers-Penguins series for a couple of days, but my initial instinct is Penguins in six. Don't hold me to that, though. I might change my mind. Fleury looked shaky yesterday. If he plays like that against the Flyers, then the Pens will be in trouble.

I'll post my official prediction before the series starts on Friday.

[SonicDude]

thank you pens!!!!!!!!!!!

now, pens, kick philly's butt and then lose in the finals so i can start my summer peacefully.

i think pando and sarge should be re-signed.

eklund reporting/speculating we are interested in:
brunette
finger
rozival
mara

spector has us on the huselius list.

[Jeff]

This should really say something about the strength of our division this year.

Division had the 2, 4, 5 and 6 seeds and the 2 and 6 seeds are in the conference finals.

I think a Red Wings/Penguins final would be great for the NHL this year.

[RJ Arditti(5hole henrik the crying swede)]

i don;t want huselius, i don;t think his aloof attitude will mesh well with sutter.

personally i have 0 interest in Ridgewood born Paul Mara, jeff finger, or andrew brunette. Nothing here that really upgrades our roster, and no one here is good enough to skate on the first line and get the puck to the players we already have that can score, but don;t because we don;t have a center to get them the puck

[Richer's Ghost]

Stars vs. Pens finals is my prediction.