Birds Batter Blueshirts

Ryan Hollweg is Ryan Hollweg for a reason.

As expected, Tom Renney plugged Hollweg back into the lineup for Game Three against the Penguins, hoping the rambunctious winger could help energize his Ranger teammates and spark the rabid Madison Square Garden crowd. Instead, Hollweg took one of his customary dumb penalties at the worst possible times, all but dooming the Blueshirts to a long summer vacation.

Hollweg's critical mistake came at 15:56 of the second period. Only 2:45 earlier, Jaromir Jagr had scored to tie the game 3-3, erasing a two-goal deficit and giving the Rangers reason to believe. The Penguins were clearly rattled. The Birds had spent much of the period killing penalties and looked the worse for wear, doing all they could to limp to the intermission.

Hollweg, Nigel Dawes, and Ryan Callahan were cycling the puck at will in the Pittsburgh zone, buzzing the net and finishing checks. When the Penguins finally managed to work the play back to center, Hollweg couldn't help himself and ran Petr Sykora from behind into the boards. Hollweg's never met a back he didn't bite.

The penalty completely derailed the runaway locomotive. Pittsburgh took a sigh of relief and settled into a comfortable man-advantage. Evgeni Malkin turned the power play into his own personal driving range, blasting one slap shot after another towards the New York cage. Martin Straka and Daniel Girardi combined to block three of the shots, but Malkin just kept firing.

Sidney Crosby recognized the hot hand and faked a slapper of his own in the left circle before wiring a pass cross ice to Malkin in the right circle. Geno the Scoring Machine-o pumped his stick to get Straka to attempt another block, reloaded, and blistered a low drive inside the far left post for the 4-3 lead.

Confidence restored, Pittsburgh easily made it out of the second and cashed in early in the third on a nifty Ryan Malone redirection to reclaim complete control of the contest. The Penguins trapped the Rangers into submission the rest of the night, leaving MSG with a 5-3 win and a 3-0 series lead.

And they couldn't have done it without good ol' Ryan Hollweg.

TURNING POINT
If Hollweg doesn't run Sykora, things could have ended differently. The Rangers had the Pens on the ropes. But that's the trouble with Hollweg. He's all oatmeal north of the eyebrows.

IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES - NEW YORK

Jaromir Jagr: Puff Nuts came to play. He was all over the ice, looking very much like the Czech Wonder Kid from his days in Pittsburgh. Kit Kats and blue jeans for everybody!

Jagr created the first New York goal when he crashed the net hard and then simply planted himself in the middle of the paint, knocking Marc-Andre Fleury to the ice. When the Penguin defenders tried to shove Jagr out of the way, the mass of humanity prevented Fleury from getting to his skates in time to stop Straka. It was complete garbage, but it's precisely the kind of goal teams need to score in the playoffs. And Jagr made it happen.

After Ryan Callahan pulled the Rangers within 3-2 in the second, Jagr delivered the tying goal, wheeling around from behind the Penguin net and whipping a wrist shot inside the far left post behind a befuddled Fleury. It was vintage Jagr.

Puff Nuts finished the night with 10 shots. He was far and away the best Blueshirt on the ice. It's always nice to see Jagr still cares. And everyone should enjoy it while they can. He could very well have one game left in his career.

IMPRESSIVE PERFORMANCES - PITTSBURGH

Evgeni Malkin: Malkin continued his dominance, ringing up two goals and an assist. He also won the faceoff that led to Malone's third-period tally. His work on the power play was exceptional, as both his goals came with the man-advantage. He isn't scared to drop the hammer. I'd say he must have been watching his buddy Alexander Ovechkin's instructional videos, but then he probably would have just faked the shot and thrown the puck in the corner.

Jordan Staal: What sophomore slump? The numbers may have been down this season, but the adversity served Staal well. Like a lot of these Penguins, he seems to have matured overnight, going from gangly teenager to playoff powerhouse. This kid is an absolute monster on the backcheck. It's a joy watching him play defense. Sure, his older brother did drop him on his wallet in the first period with a heavy hit, but scoreboard, bro. Scoreboard.

Pascal Dupuis: The forgotten man in the Hossa trade continues to make his presence felt. He was flying all night, using his speed to create a number of top scoring chances. He orchestrated the first goal of the night, streaking into the New York zone and setting up Crosby for a redirection that resulted in a Hossa rebound. He finished the night with a team-high four shots.

Marc-Andre Fleury: The Flower stopped 36 of 39. While he'd probably like to have another crack at the Jagr goal, Fleury was exceptional, frustrating the Rangers more than once. He was particularly sharp when the Rangers were on the power play, serving as the Birds' best penalty-killer. Fleury's outplayed Lundqvist. Period.

OTHER STUFF
* New York certainly can't cry about the refs after this one. Not only was their first goal questionable to say the least, the Rangers also had the benefit of two five-on-three power plays in the second period. Sykora, Dupuis, and Brooks Orpik got whistled for minor penalties just 2:46 apart, yet the Rangers couldn't crack Fleury. They'd fail on two more power plays in the third.

* Pittsburgh only had two power plays all night and converted them both.

* The reason Jagr was so effective in Game Three was because Renney, unlike Michel Therrien, actually matches lines. Renney got Jagr on the ice against Ryan Whitney and Kris Letang as much as possible, resulting in a goal, an assist, and 10 shots for 68. Yet somehow Therrien is 7-0 in the playoffs. How is that possible? Oh, that's right. He's got Crosby and Malkin. Never mind.

* Chris Drury appeared to injure his shoulder during one of the five-on-three power plays in the second period. After suffering the injury, Drury hunched over at the waist and slowly skated to the bench. In doing so, he completely ignored a loose puck, lifelessly coasting right past it. It was rather stunning. Drury's bizarre behavior allowed the Penguins to chase down the puck and clear the zone. Unless you've just been shot in the Charlie Browns, you gotta at least kick the puck down the boards. Drury returned to action in the third period, but he never looked the same.

THE REST OF THE WAY
Pittsburgh is scary good. Even when the Rangers came back to tie the game, I never got the sense the Penguins were in danger of losing. And once they get a lead, it's over.

Give Therrien credit. He can't match lines, he can't pluralize English nouns, but he can coach the hell out of a defensive system. The Penguins choked out the Rangers in the third, putting on a trapping clinic. And their penalty-killing, once a glaring weakness, has been brilliant since the additions of Hossa, Dupuis, and Hal Gill. They've killed 13 of 14 against the Rangers, including several key third-period murders. It's kind of reminiscent of how the 1991 team turned the corner once Ron Francis and Ulf Samuelsson came to town.

In yet another shocking similarity to the Lemieux Cup teams, this Penguin squad buries their chances. They beat Lundqvist five times on just 17 shots. That's what makes them so tough to beat. The opposition can be dominating the entire game, Crosby or Malkin get one chance, and it's in the net.

Beating this team four times in seven tries is going to be brutal, doing it four straight is a virtual impossibility. Jagr was trying to make comparisons to the 2004 Red Sox that came back to shock those filthy Yankees. But the Yanks didn't have Crosby, Malkin, and Fleury. And the Rangers couldn't cowboy up with Gene Autry and Tex Ritter.

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