Gameday: Same lineups expected for crucial 5th at MSG

By Steve ZipayMay 7, 2012

Remember the old tune, "Do nothing till you hear from me" ?

That seems to be the thinking from coaches John Tortorella and Dale Hunter as the Caps and Rangers prepared to go toe-to-toe at MSG tonight. Lineups from the goalies out to the forwards appear to be the same judging from the morning skates, although Steve Eminger did leave the ice a little earlier than Stu Bickel. We'll see what happens in warmups.

A win would give the Rangers a decided advantage. Higher-seeded teams with a 3-2 lead in the Conference Semifinals win the series 76 percent of the time, according to whowins.com, a site that tracks pro sports results.

Of course, against Ottawa, the Rangers lost Game 5 at home 2-0, but rallied to win the first round in seven games. It could be dangerous to test those waters again, given oiw well the Caps are faring at home. I still think this will go the full seven.

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Some quotes:

“I think all series take on a life of their own,” said John Tortorella. “To me, this series has been an even harder series to play than the Ottawa series. You got that crap that goes on after Game 2 (against Ottawa). I forget the player’s name suckering our guys (Matt Carkner), and all that stuff ends up being part of it. This has been a straight-ahead hard series and in most facets of it, harder than the Ottawa series.”

Dan Girardi, who was floored by a high hit from Alex Ovechkin, who drew a penalty for charging late in the second period in Game 4 on Saturday, said: “Just because there aren’t a lot of scrums and all that doesn’t mean we don’t hate each other.”

Girardi, like several other Rangers, repeated what they said yeterday: They needed more shots, more traffic, a better start in attacking Braden Holtby

And a couple from Hunter:

On the Rangers PK: "Our guys did a good job of missing the first guy (shot blocker)."

On his team's shot-blocking: "It's part of the game now. The Rangers set the tone all year. It's committment by players and they (the Caps) have bought into it."