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The New York Rangers owned Game 5 against the Pittsburgh Penguins and as a result there will be a Mother’Day showdown at 7 PM on Sunday.
The Rangers were the better team from the opening faceoff to the final buzzer sans a 2 minute stretch when Evgeni Malkin decided he was going to score a goal:
This does not put the series in danger for the Penguins but it did blow a very nice opportunity for the Penguins to get rest before their next series.
The Penguins have played well for the most part all postseason and they will be returning to a rink where they just took two games in a row.
Adam Gretz puts it best
It's hard to beat a team four times in a row. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
— Adam Gretz (@AGretz) May 10, 2014
The Rangers opened the scoring and found themselves with a 2-0 lead not long thereafter. In the 1st round this would be a major problem given the frequency of multi goal comebacks but in the 2nd round the teams that have scored first have been undefeated (16-0).
The Penguins line of Crosby, Malkin, and Kunitz has been terrific, there is no doubt about that but I think I would take Malkin and put him with James Neal to start Game 6. Neal has not been very productive offensively this postseason and he is a guy the Penguins need to make a real run at the Cup. He has 2 goals in 10 games and his last goal was a complete fluke. He isn’t playing poorly in my opinion, but he isn’t able to generate chances on his own, he needs a Malkin to free him up. His goal pace so far in the playoffs would leave him with 10 goals in a full 82 game season. That is way below average for a guy that possesses the shot that Neal does.
Brian Gibbons continues to play well when called upon. I think that he could have a bigger impact on the games if he wasn’t buried with Vitale and Adams. Perhaps if the Penguins move Malkin back with Neal and Jokinen Bylsma could split time between Stempniak and Gibbons on the top line/3rd line. His speed is noticeable every shift and he makes sound decisions with the puck. Naturally he will lose a few board battles because of his size but I think the tradeoff is acceptable given how well he has utilized his speed factor.
Joe Vitale is not a good player, he is just the faster version of Craig Adams, but falls down more often. Same hands, same limited offensive ability, same vanilla decisions, just faster.
Kris Letang has had a really good playoff year so far, especially since being paired with Paul Martin. However, one area where I don’t believe he will ever excel in is the power play. Physical skill is there but I just don’t think he reads the play well enough to sit back and QB the Penguins power play. Paul Martin and Matt Niskanen do a better job. I have no doubt that Bylsma threw Letang back on the power play as a carrot for his excellent 5 on 5 play and that’s a nice gesture that can go a long way with a player, but it should have stayed as an isolated gesture not a full time promotion.
The Penguins 5 on 3 was bad and it starts up top with the person facilitating the action. Paul Martin should be distributing the puck to the ultra talented forwards. The Penguins could have dug themselves out of their 3-1 defecit with a good power play, instead the game got away from them, blown opportunity.
Matt Niskanen had 6 points on the power play in round 1, he has 0 in round 2.
The anemic Rangers power play scored 2 goals last night, they now have more power play goals than the Penguins in the series.
Marc Andre Fleury had a weak outing in Game 5, he will have to bounce back in Game 6 at MSG. His playoff career at MSG has been very successful to this point. Fleury has a .943% save percentage and is 3-1 on Broadway.
Under Dan Bylsma, the Penguins are 1-7 when they have a chance to clinch a series at home. In those games, Pens have been out-scored 33-18.
— Josh Yohe (@JoshYohe_Trib) May 10, 2014
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