Penguins’ power play stays red-hot in Game 4 victory
NEW YORK, N.Y. — On the back of three power play goals, the Pittsburgh Penguins won Game 4 against the New York Rangers 5-0 and will now head home with a chance to close out the series on Saturday.
The Rangers again had no answers for the Penguins power play, which through three games has seven goals on 19 opportunities (36.8 percent).
It started in the first period when Evgeni Malkin’s shot from the point deflected off Patric Hornqvist’s skate to give Pittsburgh a 2-0 lead.
The special teams success continued in the final two periods when Malkin would celebrate his first two goals of the playoffs as the Madison Square Garden crowd slowly emptied out.
There was some question about whether Malkin’s re-entry into the Penguins’ lineup would cause chemistry issues, but clearly that’ s been answered now. At even strength, he’s improved since returning in Game 2. With the extra man, he’s only added to an already dangerous unit that’s looked unstoppable after finishing 15th (18.4 percent) in the NHL during the regular season.
“I think getting a guy like Geno back, it brings another element to it,” said Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. “I think we simplified things. Some games we tried too many seam passes. They were able to knock pucks down. Tonight we used what they were giving us. We put the puck at the net and got rewarded.”
Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan lauded the decision-making of his power play units, which in Game 4 seemed they were running a clinic on the ice. While the Penguins were making the right decisions the Rangers were making very wrong ones, as evident on Malkin’s second goal.
Having not lost back-to-back games since mid-January boosted Pittsburgh to their 104-point season and second-place finish in the Metropolitan Division, and is a reason why so many believe they can come out of the Eastern Conference and reach the Stanley Cup Final.
That success has also helped build a confidence within that dressing room at the right time of year.
“I think that builds a belief, it builds a trust in each other,” said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby. “We’ve been fortunate enough to get good results. We’re playing the right way, we’re doing little things.
“You can see in games when we start to get away from that momentum changes, so we understand if we do those things we give ourselves a great chance. But when we don’t we’re ordinary, so we need to make sure that we play with that edge, but we have been doing that and gotten great results because of it.”
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Sean Leahy is the associate editor for Puck Daddy on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter! Follow @Sean_Leahy
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