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Penguins bring on the firepower

With Sidney Crosby, left, Evgeni Malkin, right, and Marian Hossa (not pictured), the Pittsburgh Penguins have three world-class offensive talents -- three more than the Rangers' last opponent, the New Jersey Devils. (AP Photo)

BY ARTHUR STAPLE | arthur.staple@newsday.com

April 25, 2008

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After a week of practicing and waiting on both sides, the Rangers and Penguins will drop the puck on their Eastern Conference semifinal series tonight in Pittsburgh at Mellon Arena.

"We're done talking, I think, and you guys are done asking questions," Brendan Shanahan said yesterday after the Rangers' practice. "I'd say we're ready to play."

The Rangers had the same seven-day layoff between the first and second rounds of last season's playoffs, and the results were not good. The Sabres won the conference semifinal opener in Buffalo, 5-2, and went on to a six-game series win.

This Rangers team has Chris Drury, from that Sabres team, and Scott Gomez, as well as a host of rookies who will play key roles. The Penguins, who have been off for nine days, have the high-powered offense, with Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin anchoring two top lines.

Jaromir Jagr thinks highly of the Penguins' current young stars but said they have a long way to go to catch up to Mario Lemieux, who along with Jagr formed the core of the Pens' championship teams of 1991 and 1992.

"I don't think they're better than him, and I say that with all respect to them because the game has changed," Jagr said. "The gap between Mario and the rest of the guys when I was in Pittsburgh was huge. He was able to score 20 points in one playoff series. I don't think those kids are able to do that. Maybe I'm wrong, and if I'm wrong, I'm going to apologize and tell them, 'Great job.' You can do it once in a while, but not every night like him."

Luckily for the Rangers, Lemieux will be ensconced in the owner's box tonight. Crosby and Malkin will be on the ice and in the minds of the Rangers, who have to be able to play a sound defensive style in the face of a team that likes to play with speed and abandon.

Pittsburgh is especially tough in its transition game, using long passes to spring their forwards. Offensive-zone turnovers and the way the Rangers respond could be key.

"The series might hang in the balance right there," said coach Tom Renney, who preaches patience to his team. "If the play allows us to forecheck and put their five skaters under pressure, we'll do that. But if we can't and we don't like it, we'll defend it collectively and look to turn the puck over further back."

That sort of talk doesn't exactly tickle fans' fancies - or Jagr's, for that matter. He has always preferred that his line make a play rather than dump and chase, and he praised his rookie center, Brandon Dubinsky, for getting into the play-making area more during the Rangers' five-game win over the Devils in the first round.

But the Devils had little in the way of offensive firepower, nothing on the order of Crosby, Malkin, Marian Hossa and former Ranger Petr Sykora, who rents Jagr's Pittsburgh home.

And whatever the Rangers accomplished against New Jersey, whether it was Sean Avery's getting to Martin Brodeur or the quick-strike offense the Rangers employed late in the series, it's all wiped clean now.

"That's the beauty of the playoffs," Gomez said. "Whatever you did before is gone now."

Notes & quotes: Renney said the week-long layoff has made him more comfortable with the thought of making a minor lineup change, which hints at Colton Orr possibly taking Ryan Hollweg's spot on the fourth line. The line, with Blair Betts and Fredrik Sjostrom, might be responsible for checking Crosby's line during the upcoming series. Orr missed the final week of the regular season with a broken foot and, after getting healthy, was held out of the Devils series.