The Stanley Cup playoffs are back.
What seemed to be a fait accompli early in the season turned into a gut-wrenching struggle down the stretch, as the once-dominant Penguins looked like a shell of their former selves, backing into the postseason with a 4-9-2 record down the homestretch.
The Penguins have now qualified for the postseason for nine consecutive seasons, but for the first time in a long time, find themselves in the position of being underdogs, as they will travel to New York City to face the top club in the National Hockey League, the New York Rangers.
If you missed it earlier this week, I discussed the Penguins reliance on young defensemen to shut down a deep Rangers attack on Monday. Yesterday, I broke down the reasons for the Rangers’ success in 2014-15.
Today, we’ll cover some Penguins and Rangers history, get some big screen news, do some scoreboard watching, and later, hear from head coach Mike Johnston and I’ll make a series prediction. Are you ready?
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Good. Let’s dive right in.
PENS/RANGERS PLAYOFF MOMENTS: The Penguins and Rangers have shared a division more often than not since the Penguins moved into the Patrick Division in 1980. Despite that, the clubs have faced off just five times in the postseason.
In total, the Penguins are 19-8 against the Rangers in the postseason and have won four of the five series between the longtime divisional rivals.
Although the teams have a limited playoff history, there have been some very memorable moments in games between them.
Bury Graves: With the Penguins leading 1-0 in Game 2 of the Patrick Division Final, Rangers left-winger Adam Graves committed one of the most notorious penalties in NHL history, slashing Mario Lemieux across the hands with a vicious two-hander, and breaking the Penguins superstar’s wrist. (Fast forward to 7 min mark. Or don’t, because it’s all awesome)
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The Rangers would win that game, but the Penguins would win the series in six games thanks to the heroics of Ron Francis, who scored six goal and four assists over the final four games.
The Muskegon Line: Also contributing to that series win was a trio of players called up from the Penguins’ top farm, which at the time was the Muskegon Lumberjacks of the IHL. Jock Callander, Mike Needham and Dave Michayluk, who became known as the Muskegon Line, combined to score three goals and four assists in the 1992 playoffs, and none were bigger than Needham’s tally that started the Penguins’ comeback in Game 4 against the Rangers.
Hossa wins it: In 2008, with the teams again meeting in the second round, the Penguins jumped out to a 3-0 series lead on the Rangers. The Rangers staved off elimination with a 3-0 win in Game 4, and the series returned to Mellon Arena.
The Penguins again had trouble putting away the Rangers and Game 5 went into overtime. That’s when Hossa scored what might be the most famous goal of his brief Penguins tenure.
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WORLD FAMOUS: Madison Square Garden is known as “The World’s Most Famous Arena” and the Rangers have made it their home since the current building opened in 1968. It is the oldest arena in the NHL.
The Penguins made their first visit on October 30, 1968, a 7-3 loss. It took the Pens four tries to get their first win, a 3-2 victory on December 26, 1969. Since then, the Penguins and Rangers have played a fairly even series at MSG. The Penguins are 54-58-15 in the building in the regular season.
In the postseason, however, the Penguins have dominated on Broadway. In the teams’ five playoff series, the Penguins are 9-3 as the visiting club and twice – in 1989 and 1996 – swept the Rangers in New York.
BIG SCREEN BACK: A few days after announcing that they could not host their traditional big screen playoff watch parties this spring due to construction on the former Mellon Arena site, the Penguins announced earlier today that the tradition would continue thanks to a partnership with the City of Pittsburgh and several local businesses and trade organizations.
“This is one of my favorite springtime traditions,” said Pittsburgh mayor Bill Peduto. “Penguins fans have shown up to the big screen by the thousands in years past. Working with the organization to continue the tradition for Round 1 this year was a no-brainer.”
The city and the Penguins will host watch parties for every home game throughout the postseason. The party for Game 3 on Monday will be in Market Square and Game 4 on Wednesday will take place in PPG Place.
Both games face off at 7:00 p.m. and fans are welcome to arrive beginning at 5:00 p.m. As in the past, the events will be free and open to the public, and alcoholic beverages are prohibited.
ROOT FOR THE HOME TEAM: The Penguins will have a familiar TV home for the first round, as ROOT Sports Pittsburgh will be televising three of the Penguins first four playoff games. Tonight’s game, along with games three and four next week, will be televised on both ROOT and NBC Sports Network. Saturday’s Game 2 will be broadcast by NBC and carried by WPXI-TV Channel 11 locally.
Root was originally scheduled to broadcast the Pirates on Monday and Wednesday next week. Those games will no longer be televised. They will instead broadcast the games taking place on July 2 and July 29, which were not originally on the TV schedule.
SCOREBOARD WATCHING: The winner of the Penguins/Rangers series will face the winner of the other Metropolitan Division series in the second round. Last night, that series got started with the New York Islanders beating the Washington Capitals 4-1 at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C.
Brock Nelson scored a pair of goals for the Isles, Josh Bailey had a goal and an assist and Ryan Strome scored what would be the game-winner as Jaroslav Halak stopped 24-of-25 Capitals shots. Marcus Johansson tallied the only marker for the Caps. Former Penguins defenseman Matt Niskanen was a minus-4. Game 2 is on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
In the second part of today’s series preview, we’ll hear from head coach Mike Johnston about tonight’s lineup and I’ll make my series prediction. Stay tuned!
Photo credit: Getty Images
