Live Blog - Rangers @ Penguins: Game 5 (Let’s Keep It Going!)

Wearing the same 1995 nameless jersey, Gumby PJ pants NYR ‘08 hat and brown slippers. Got my molson Ice to my right and my wallet/money on the left. Same two people here… ordering same half bacon/peperoni pizza 1st intermission as well. The funny part is I have to kick my girlfriend out 15 minutes into the first period, considering she left during game 4 about 15 minutes into the first. TV was blasting and I was screaming, she was trying to do homework. Adios darling, LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!!

Excellent, Struds AND Hollweg are in!! Good; both will have a positive impact out there today.

Does a 2:00 start really mean 2:15 these days???

They did just interview Jordan Staal, Steve…

You could say the same thing about them when they interview any Ranger, it’s pretty much always Scotty Gomez Brendan Shanahan.

*Gomez or Shanny

Wearing the same Shananhan Shirt and Cammoflauge shorts. Wife not watching the game… I met Korpikoski on the day he was drafted in Raleigh (and Ovechkin, but ironically passed on the chance to meet Malkin), maybe my good Mojo will rub off…

Yeah seriously… its 2:19 and the puck has yet to drop.

Strudwick saves the day!

Have to keep weathering the storm..good work by Strudwick to clear a couple pucks to the corner, not getting much going forward, too much standing around from the Rangers in their own zone.

Rangers giving up a lot in their own zone. This is not the kind of game they want to play.

Gotta slow this game down

Yep, agreed Inferno.

Michael please take off your Strudwick colored glasses. He’s been awful so far.

Awful??? What are you talking about???

Trademark lazy penalty from Jagr..

Steve, you can’t say take off my colored glasses when you’re at the complete opposite end of the spectrum and can’t admit when he does make a good play…give me a break

I can admit it. He was fine in Game 4. He’s been bad today, end of story.

Absolutely gotta slow this game down.

Really, you can admit it? Did you listen to yourself on the last podcast?? He wasn’t “fine”, according to you, he just “didn’t kill the Rangers”. Big difference between the two.

No, he’s been “fine” again today. End of story. You’re not watching the game if you can’t see that, he’s been in good position protecting the area right in front of Hank and sweeping pucks towards the perimeter. Wasn’t his fault the Rangers were on the ice in their own end for a minute and a half at the beginning of the game and no one could stand up.

Okay Michael, I’m not going to argue with you. This game is a about a lot more than Strudwick. You’ve clearly got opinions that are not shared by many others, but I respect it. You stick to your guns, but I’m not going to turn this game into a Strudwick debate.

Attababy, Perry, another great PP.

It’s a shame the Roberts/Avery feud didn’t come to fruition this series. I loved seeing those two guys go at it this year.

Let’s see if we can steal a goal here before the end of the period..wouldn’t be surprised if Korpikowski got one..

I read on The Hockey News that Perry Pearn is considered one of the best assistant coaches in the league…

That’s a joke; he is useless as I think we all know.

Remember how unstoppable we were on the PP two years ago?? Wow, what a difference now.

Solid period for the Rangers, I was impressed with the way they played.

Eric, what happened to your boy “Nigel” there??? We needed that one!

To be fair Michael, Pearn and Pelino were the assistand coaches two years ago as well.

Yeah, and that’s my point. What happened in those two years??

They’ve been with Renney for a while now, and it seems like the Rangers have regressed each year in their specialties (special teams and faceoffs).

Man, Dawesome needs to bury that.

Perry Pearn wears nice ties. That’s it. Mike Pelino charts faceoffs, and that’s it. Aside from that, the two of them don’t seem to bring much to the team. Benoit Allaire is the most successful coach on the Rangers, and he’s the goalie coach.

The Rangers look solid. Pit looks solid. Its gonna be a close one.

Michael, how do you know any of this? In hockey circles both of these guys are considered top tier assistants. The power play has been bad this year, yes, but to say they bring nothing to the table is ridiculous.

Rangers were one of the top faceoff teams this year Michael, thats not an issue for this team.

I agree Steven, unless we are close to the team there’s really no way we can know what the assistant coaches do.

Yeah they did mention the stat of drury vs crosby… Not a weakness for us, nor is the PK… Our PP is the only thing that looks like crap.

I don’t KNOW any of this, obviously, as I’m not with the team every day. Look at the measurables though.

The PP has failed at the time the Rangers need it most. The PK has been leaking goals to Pittsburgh this series and was only above average this season. Lundqvist was the one who made it what it was, not the actual group on the ice.

In hockey circles, owners and GM’s fire coaches who are in the midst of finishing in the upper tier of their conference simply because they’re not happy with them. In hockey circles, Mike Babcock could be considered the Coach of the Year despite the fact that his team has the most offensive talent in the league, not because of his coaching (which we’ve seen in the last few years).

I don’t care what they say in hockey circles. Make a judgement for yourself on what you see. Pearn’s job with this team is special teams, is it not? Have our special teams been any good this year? No, not really.

Gomez doing what he did early in the year. Try to go one on 5 w/o waiting for his teammates, and he turns it over time after time after time.

Inferno, but that’s because of guys like Drury and Gomez, who have proved over the years that they can win faceoffs, again, not because of the coaching. The Rangers that have been here for a while haven’t really gotten any better at winning key draws.

btw, Michael, the head coach is ultimately responsible for approving the way the assistants handle those aspects of the team. The assistant coach isnt going to do anything out there w/o the ok if the head coach, and some heavy input from him.

Renney should not be held blameless, like he apparently is for everything else.

Suffice it to say that I’m not very high on this coaching staff, but that’s ok..

It’s a good point again, Inferno. You and I don’t seem to be convinced by Renney whatsoever even though most of the media is because of his intelligence and articulate speech.

And you forgot to mention he’s been the only coach in what… 7 years to lead this team 3 years in a row to the playoffs?

Michael, youre being absolutely ridiculous here. OBVIOUSLY the personnel is going to dictate how high your faceoff % is. Is it shocking that when you lose a guy like Nylander, who is god awvul at faceoffs, and replace him with a guy like Drury that youre faceoffs go through the roof?

Come on, now youre being ludicrous.

“Oh, sure, theyre good, but its not because of the coaching, its because of the players” but somehow the powerplay is 100% on the coaching, and not on the players.

At least I give Renney credit when he does something good, or the team does something well. Youve just fixated on the assistants for no reason. Its like that episode of Law and Order where the guy blames everything thats going wrong in his life on a religious cult..and we all know how that turns out.

Let it go bro.

Strudwick has been just awful, as always. Michael, I don’t know what game your watching, but the guy can barely stay on his feet. Not only did he almost score an own goal, his one “good defensive play” was the direct result of his own turnover. Get this guy off the ice! NOW!

Here we go..let’s get one early here!

Or once at that… Oh but I forgot they havent swept flawlessly through 4 rounds in the playoffs. They’re human, apparantly.

wow, hossa with a choke job there.

People’s Champ, if you haven’t noticed, no one can stay on their feet on this ice..or did you not just see Hossa miss from point blank range?

How the hell is that not a penalty?

Shoulda been a 4 minute minor on Malone, instead, no call.

Wow, we got jobbed there.

ANOTHER typical dumb Jagr penalty, this one in the offensive zone like usual.

Michael, if you haven’t noticed, Strudwick couldn’t stay on his feet in any rink this entire season.

This league is unbelievable

Good work there, Struds. He drew it.

Ah hah! Praise from Steve Gelbs!

Not a bad penalty to take there.

I need to see that replay, Malkin went down awfully easy.

You’ll see no such replay Inferon. This is NBC.

Pittsburgh’s PK was 23rd-best in the regular season at 81%. We’re making them look like world-beaters in this series.

They came on strong at the end. They’ve been scorching lately.

Stick in between the skates? Couldn’t really tell there.

That was definitely a penalty, but Malkin helped it.

Wow. Tic, tac, toe.

And they bury it. It was only a matter of time.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. They’ve called SO MANY this playoff series when someone gets cut, not matter where the puck is. Results in a stupid penalty here, and again, lol. Rozy, what are you thinking.

Rozsival takes ANOTHER penalty. Thanks scumbag.

That’s NOT a penalty!! Both guys were doing the same thing — battling for a loose puck.

They each had their sticks up parallel to the ice, they each were leaning on each other, and Rozy takes the penalty. Sorry, don’t buy that one.

Rozsi’s stick was in the midsection. It’s been a penalty for the last 3 years. Like it or not, it absolutely was a penalty.

WHAT A SAVE BY HENRIK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, agreed, you’re right about the stick, but Kennedy’s was right in Rozy’s mid-section also. They were jostling for it, and that has to be a no-call.

What a save from Hank!

Inferno I don’t know if you’re refering to me or rozsival but I posted that as he got the penalty. not the “and again, lol.”

Next goal is critical..we’re not coming back from 2-0 down, and 1-1 could break the Penguins’ spirit a little bit since they’ve easily had the better of this period.

Henrik absolutely standing on his head.

Well, this is gonna be yet another huge hill to climb.

Mara, how about you stand up and hit Malkin??? He has a reputation of a soft defenseman for a reason, but come on.

Steve, can’t disagree with you there about Strudwick, bad play on his part. He’s not alone in turning the puck over today though.

Thats it, game over.

Alright Jags, step up now and show us why you have that C on your chest..

When did the momentum shift? After that un%$@#ing believable non-call. None of this ever should have happened…

1 shot on 4 PP’s is INEXCUSABLE!! We NEED to score here, we really, really do.

Ill say it again. This series was lost when Ryan Hollweg took that penalty. He doesnt take that penalty, this series is 2-2 right now.

No penalty?!?!?!

That might not be a bad thing… Our PP is atrocious.

Hahahaha, they did an edit-undo on an obvious penalty.

Can’t assume that, Inferno. Can’t assume we would’ve won Game 3 ans definitely can’t assume we would’ve Game 4, even though we did, because we wouldn’t have had as much desperation.

Another soft call by the refs.

Rozsival, the goat of this game.

That was the worst officiated period of hockey I have ever seen

Would have to agree based on his three penalties, even though only one of them was legit..

I will have a very, very telling impression of this coaching staff depending how the Rangers come out to play in the third period. If they come out flat as a pancake, I will blame the coaches for not lighting a fire under them and if the Rangers actually look like they want it, I’ll give the coaches credit for their motivation.

It just seems like the Rangers are skating in quicksand on this ice while the Penguins are getting around it by quick puck movement, and even they just look faster and stronger today.

Something tells me, though, that Renney isn’t exactly known as a master motivator with the fiery peptalks. This is no Lindy Ruff or Bob Knight or Lou Piniella here.

There have been tons of shoddy ref’ing in this series, and suprise suprise the NHL darling Pens have benifited from it for the most part.

1. The horrible call on Straka in game 1
2. The early whistle that negated a Straka goal in Game 2
3. The Dubiski call in i think game 1 where Crosby obviously dived.
4. The no call on Drury in this game.

thats just off the top of my head.

The Caps got robbed in there game 7 on a horrible call on Poti too so it seems not limited to the Rangers. Why do the refs feel the need to determine the outcomes of the games …

Why Ryan Hollwed is in and Orr is out, beyond me.

* No call on high stick on Drury

Yeah Henry, thats just another reason we’re down 2-0… They have called SO many of those SO SO SO many. Thats absolutely ridiculous, even though our PP is horrific, the momentem would have carried over to the 5 on 5.

Scummy, the Hollweg/Orr issue, much like the Strudwick issue, doesn’t really have much impact on this game. Neither provides the offense that the Rangers need to come back.

Also, for all you people who praise Renney for taking the Rangers to the playoffs in three seasons running, let me say this.

Renney has never advanced out of the conference semifinals, and these are the only three seasons he’s made the playoffs as an NHL head coach. He’s also never even had a lead in the conference semifinals.

Now, granted, this isn’t all on Renney, but don’t tell me he’s some sort of savior for this Rangers team. There are other coaches in the league who could’ve done the same thing with NYR or even taken them further with the talent on the roster.

4 minutes of straight power play is better than if it’s all chopped up

This game isn’t over yet, though. One lucky bounce and we’re back in it, but as Mike Milbury said (one of the few intelligent thoughts he has), we can’t fall into the run-and-gun trap that they want us to play.

stop blaming the damn refs guys.

first and foremost weve gotten either as many, or more PP chances than the Pens have in this series, and we have done NOTHING on the PP. NOTHING AT ALL. blame all the bad reffing you want, but weve got 2 lucky goals, one empty net goal, and ZIP, NOTHING, NO OFFENSE AT ALL from our PP.

The refs have nothing to do with this. Blame the Rangers PP. We all knew it was going to bite them in the ass. Steven and Eric have been talking aobut it for a while, Ive been mentioning it on my blog, and here it is. Period. Their PP scores, our PP sips martinis.

Renney is a solid juniors coach, as his record shows, and a great evaluator of young talent. As far as getting it done on this level though, I’m just not convinced.

Inferno, I agree with you again. Sure, the refs haven’t been great, but we’ve had our share of chances. 2-23 on the PP now this series, I believe, and we can’t stop the Penguins from scoring when we’re a man down. We’ve dominated at even-strength and I think that’s fair to say, but we don’t have anything on the scoreboard to show for it.

Agreed inferno, the chance have been even, for the most part… but you can’t deny that the highstick/cut on drury isnt rediculous. I’m the last person to blame Refs, hell I listen to the NHL hour podcast with Bettman, I know the refs dont get to look at replays and its all on the fly but it just really seems the Penns are getting the benefit of the doubt and the rangers are getting robbed. Speaking of which, where was the rough on Ruutu on Jagr?

The Rangers are one of 5 teams that have made the playoffs all three years post-lockout.

Don’t tell me Renney can’t coach at this level.

Im pretty sure numbers 1 and 2 on my list are two series changing ref calls that went against us. Malkin scored on that phantom call on Straka and that early whistle kept us from tying game 2

WOW nice call. BEAUTIFUL SHOT!!!!!

-KORPIKOSKI!!!! OH BABY YOU KNOW HES MAKING THIS TEAM NEXT YEAR!

KOOOOOOOOOOOORRRRRRPPPPEEEEEEEEDDDDDOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

Secret Weapon, the Korpedo!

I CALLED IT!! Korpikoski with the goal!

Renney can coach at this level IN THE REGULAR SEASON, STEVE. Listen, it’s like the Mavericks in the NBA. Making the playoffs when almost half the league gets there is not much of an accomplishment, it’s about what you do when you get there. That’s the bottom line. What do you do once when you get it? The regular season doesn’t matter to me, Renney has the talent on the roster to get in the playoffs, but then it becomes more about his coaching to advance once they get there.

ERIC!! Dawes with the goal!!!

NIGEL DAWES!!!!!!! YES! DON”T STOP F BOMBING BELIEVEING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

DAAAAWEESSOME!!!!

Great pass from Gomer!

lol the korpedo, I LOVE IT!

Look, making the playoffs is fine, but early exits three years in a row just isn’t good enough for me, not with the type of players we have had on this team over that period of time.

HAIL TO THE KING BABY!!!

But then again, who says we’re gonna get knocked out early this year?!?

Let’s go boys!

Steve, of those five teams you mentioned earlier, I believe (and I could be wrong) that all five have advanced further than the Rangers at some point in the post-lockout era..

I wish that puck would’ve knocked Milbury out.

Michael can you please stop finding so many negatives with this team right now?? They just tied the game. There’s plenty of time to be negative come the off season.

Let’s go!

I sense a goal here..my visions are telling me that Drury’s going to come up with it..

Nice comeback from Rozy for that assist after three penalties earlier.

I’m not being negative at all, I’m disagreeing with you because, quite frankly, you’re wrong more times than not.

But again, I digress.

Let’s get a goal here and take it back home.

OK time for a ref litmus test. Tied with less than ten minutes to go. Lets see if they make an iffy call late that leads to a PP goal…

Oh Michael, Michael, Michael. You really do make me smile. Let’s just say there’s a reason you’re usually on an island…

Tyutin missing the net. How often do you say that in a game?

I’m running out of nails to chew on!!

OK, Steve, please do smile. Your arrogance and attitude is usually what makes me smile, so I’m glad we can laugh at each other from time to time.

LETS GO RANGERS!!!!!!

LETS GO RANGERS!!!!

There it is… Lets kill it and take it in OT.

What is the deal with the Penguins celebrating before the puck even goes in the net?? They look dumb raising their hands when it doesn’t go in.

yep…

Overtime, I’ll take it.

I really get the feeling that we can steal this game, we just need someone to step up!!

Dawes looks like a 35-year old man with that beard, and guys like Callahan and Dubinsky, who are about the same age, can’t even get peach fuzz going.

-Simply a spectacular period by the Rangers. Theres no other way to say it. Tom Renney lit a fire under his teams ass, and they game through big time. Win or lose, Im really proud of the heart that was shown in that period.

the refs are hired by crosby and millbury is the most biased announcer ever. this game has taken countless years off my life! between the yelling about the horrible calls and the excitement. The refs call a 4 min double minor with the same thing that happened to Drury against the rangers. They had the nerve to swallow the whistle there but now look at the case now. DOUBLE FRIKIN MINOR! LETS GO RANGERS!

Agreed once more, Inferno, I’ll eat crow here and give Renney some kudos for whatever he said in the second intermission. We came out strong and played with a fire and passion we haven’t had for a while early in that period.

Milbury just pointed it out, it would be ironic if we lose on a four-minute PP against Drury when Drury didn’t get that same call earlier on.

Friendly bet on who gets the GW goal for either team?

I’ve got Rozy for NYR, what about you guys?

Jagr or Malkin. I like heroics. Got my moneys on Jags.

Honestly, Im thinking Sykora for the Pens

Michael, are you on crack? I know Steve personally and describing him as arrogant couldn’t be further from the truth. Enough with the fucking negativity. Let’s get this done in OT!

Sykora would be another irony as a former Ranger, but so would either Jagr, Straka, or Rozy haha..

Good to know you’re sticking up for your boy, PC, I respect that.

AHHH this 15 minutes is taking forever to wait!!

Glad to know I have your respect, Michael. And just for the record, it’s TPC.

anyone know how to treat heart palpatations. o yeah and screw the refs and broadcasters of this mockery of a series. damn them and their Great Squishy Hope Sid the Kid. I hate the league for life now because of their shameless bias against opponents of those two young stars or the “future” of the league. LETS GO RANGERS IN THE OT!!!!!!!!

I AM IN THE COURT OF YOUR MAJESTY KING HENRIK!

NOOOOOO!!!

MY HEART I CANT TAKE THIS!!!!!!!!!

HEY DRURY WE MISSED YOU! PK IS ON FIRE!

I hope I don’t die here. heart b\pounding so fast.

SHIT! Worst calling in a series ever. I died on May 4, 2008. Good Season to you all. I hate sidney crosby and god save the league

Well, thats that.

Marian Hossa, coming up empty in the playoffs as usual.. *sigh*

Sorry about that, I forgot the oh-so-important definite article.

Well, this season ended with a whimper?

Was it a failure? I’d have to say yes..

Sorry if that makes me negative, but this team had Stanley Cup expectations.

Oops, didn’t mean to have that question mark after whimper, bad grammar haha.

Congrats to the Pens, they’re the better team without a doubt.

The better team won.

End of story.

I hate Crosby… this may be the first and only time EVER i pull for Philthydelphia… It may be sacrilidge but I freaking hate that diving punk…

Thanks for a good season, NYRangerscast. I mean that sincerely; there’s not much coverage of the Rangers or even the NHL down here in VA, so you guys really came in handy.

Well we appreciate that Michael. We’re not finished yet though. We’ll wrap things up this week and keep it going (obviously with less frequency) over the summer.

hey steven, i wrote an interesting article today on my site, you might be interested in it.