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Rangers lose to Penguins, trail 2-0 in series

BY STEVE ZIPAY | steve.zipay@newsday.com

April 28, 2008

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PITTSBURGH - If anything, the Pittsburgh Penguins have shown they can beat the Rangers in a number of ways.

The Penguins won yesterday's game, 2-0, in a defensive battle decided by a power-play goal and an empty-netter with 17 seconds left. They had won Friday's game, 5-4. Now Pittsburgh will take a 2-0 lead to New York in the Eastern Conference semifinal series.

"It came down to special teams and they beat us 1-0," center Scott Gomez said after the Rangers were blanked by Marc-Andre Fleury in yesterday's matinee at Mellon Arena. "They just kept home ice and we've got to keep ours. We didn't get the puck in enough and sustain the pressure. Every time we seemed to get anything going, they cleared. We've got to respond and we will."

As in last year's semifinal against the Sabres, the Rangers are behind 2-0 but have Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers won both of those games last year and pushed the series to six games.

"Let's not forget we were down 2-0 to Buffalo a year ago," Rangers coach Tom Renney said. "We were better tonight. We just weren't good enough . . . The big thing for us is to create some momentum of our own at MSG and really take this series back."

In order to do that, the Rangers' power play, which was 0-for-6, will need to generate more scoring chances.

"Special teams was the difference," said Henrik Lundqvist, who stopped 30 shots before being pulled for an extra skater with 1:30 left in regulation. "It was 1-0 with seconds to go; it feels like the difference between these two teams is not that big. One bounce could be the difference. I think they looked a little bit better than they really are tonight, because we know we can put more pressure on them."

The Rangers managed only 26 shots on Fleury, none in a 6:30 span in the scoreless first period and many from the perimeter afterward.

During a scramble with 4:14 left, Martin Straka jammed the puck through Fleury's pads, but the goal was waved off because the whistle had blown, signaling that the goaltender had it covered. Straka never heard the whistle and said he thought the puck wasn't covered.

"Obviously, they blew the whistle before that," he said.

Said Fleury, "I know I had it underneath my pad and the guy kept swinging at my pads."

Renney said afterward that he thought it was "an accurate call. If his intention is to blow the whistle and it hasn't crossed the goal line, that seems fair to me."

Rangers captain Jaromir Jagr, who had only three shots on goal, bemoaned the Rangers' lack of good scoring opportunities. "There weren't many chances. It was a totally different game than Game 1," he said. "It was more our style. Both teams played better defense; they were more responsible in their own zone."

Lundqvist certainly was responsible, too. After allowing five goals in the opener, he almost stole this one with several remarkable saves on Marian Hossa plus others on Sidney Crosby and Sergei Gonchar in the first period.

"We had the one and the empty-netter, but we had some great chances," said Crosby, who was kept off the scoreboard. "We could've had more."

The winner came from the stick of center Jordan Staal, who backhanded a rebound past Lundqvist from the crease at 13:55 of the second period on a power play. Former Ranger Adam Hall scored into an empty net with 17 seconds left for the Penguins, who are 6-0 this postseason.

Not surprisingly, with the tight checking, this game was chippier than the first one, with chirping and stickwork between Jarkko Ruutu and Jagr, Kris Letang and Paul Mara, and Fleury and Sean Avery. With 2:22 left, Hal Gill crosschecked Avery in the crease, giving the Rangers one final power play. Replays showed that Fleury brought his stick up between Avery's legs and Avery then made a spearing motion toward Fleury. Avery "had a couple whacks at my legs," Fleury said. "My defense took care of him pretty good."

Fleury's defense took care of Avery's teammates, too, as the Rangers failed to generate a sufficient attack and find themselves in dire straits.

"We didn't advance the puck as quickly as we needed to," Renney said. "Our game is not where it needs to be to win this series."

Rangers vs. Penguins