B21 Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 Record versus the Rangers... 11/06/13: L 5-112/18/13: W 4-3 (SO)01/03/14: W 5-202/07/14: L 4-3 (SO) Some interesting points/takes on the series... Game 1 is Friday. Game 2 is Sunday. Game 3 is Monday in New York. That's 3 games in 4 days and 5 games in 7 days for the Rangers. Hopefully that is to the Pens advantage. Sutter looks to be healthy (practiced today as did Vitale). He along with Martin and Niskanen were by far the Pens best players against the Blue Jackets. Orpik is still out but Bortuzzo has filled in admirably. If Sutter is healthy it allows Pepto Bylsma to occasionally pair Malkin with Crosby and Kunitz with Sutter centering Neal and Jokinen and Goc centering the 3rd line. Some success with the against the Blue Jackets. That said, the Crosby/Kunitz/Whoever line has to be better in this series. The Pens are 4-0 all time in the playoffs against the Rangers. I think the key to the series is who wakes up first....Crosby or Nash? (Or Stills? ) I see a lot of close games in the series with the Pens' edge on offense putting them over the top. Crosby finally breaks out, too. Like last year - the Pens have an "easier" time in the 2nd round after getting a scare from and up and coming team in the 1st round. Pens in 5 (but no game decided by more than 2 goals). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polaris922 Posted May 1, 2014 Share Posted May 1, 2014 All close games I agree, but generally I'm with you on the 5 games thing. I don't think the Rags shut down the top scorers as well. THey just don't have a Dubinsky at center. I'm thinking Crosby is hurt though more than Dubinsky is challenging. Crosby wasn't himself the last few regular season games, and just this last two games looks to be skating with speed and that explosiveness we're used to seeing. Maybe he's been hurt and is starting to turn it around, or maybe he had that flu they said was going around the locker room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nossagog Posted May 2, 2014 Share Posted May 2, 2014 I think the key to the series is who wakes up first....Crosby or Nash? (Or Stills? ) :blink: Were you just waiting for that one????? Was listening to NHL Network yesterday. One of the things that they were saying about Crosby is that many believe that he is dealing with a hand/wrist injury which has affected his shot such that he's currently not looking to shoot the puck. Hopefully if that is true, he's getting better. Big thing is going to be getting shots through to Lundqvist. He's hard enough to beat normally, when the Rags are blocking loads of shots, it makes it harder. I'm going to go with the Pens in 7, with Lundqvist holding the Rags in the series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
B21 Posted May 2, 2014 Author Share Posted May 2, 2014 :blink: Were you just waiting for that one????? Was listening to NHL Network yesterday. One of the things that they were saying about Crosby is that many believe that he is dealing with a hand/wrist injury which has affected his shot such that he's currently not looking to shoot the puck. Hopefully if that is true, he's getting better. Big thing is going to be getting shots through to Lundqvist. He's hard enough to beat normally, when the Rags are blocking loads of shots, it makes it harder. I'm going to go with the Pens in 7, with Lundqvist holding the Rags in the series. I was just diappointed no one on the Pens and Rangers was named "Young". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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