2015 Stanley Cup playoffs

The Rangers are not playing that well -- especially compared to how good they consistently looked during the season -- so I can see someone saying that.

Two things, though. The Rangers have looked really bad for stretches of each of these games, but are still winning. And that is what good teams do. They gave up a goal quickly yesterday and didn't show up at all in the first period. It was a brutally bad period. Yet, they still kept it to just one goal, and I am not sure too many teams would have rebounded from looking that lethargic, with how hard the Penguins were coming at them, and come back and won the game.

Also, the Penguins injuries have hit their defense, and the defense hasn't been a problem for either team in this series. So I am not sure how much a healthy Pens team would make a difference. The Pens defense, with the AHL players, has played as well as you can expect. I don't think the Penguins can expect to hang with this Rangers team over 7 games. But the reason they have all been tight games has been that they have turned the games into defensive games and contained the Rangers speed. I am not sure that adding Christian Erhoff or Kris Letang back into the mix would make them better than they have been.

To me, the biggest problem for the Penguins is that for that formula to work, they need Crosby to be like he was in Game 2 every game. And that is a lot to put on one players' back. If there is one thing that is hampering them it's that Malkin has looked pretty bad. If he steps his game up, maybe it accounts for the extra goal or two in one of those games.

 

I see it the other way, too. With some of the defensemen the Penguins are playing, it's a testament to them that they have been able to keep the games contained. I think early in the series, the Rangers figured they had a big advantage on the diagonal stretch passes that worked all season. But Pittsburgh's defense has taken that away from them, except for a few times, like the Hagelin goal in game 3.

On the other end, I think Pittsburgh has been really aggressive, crashing the net the way they do -- you expect it from Kunitz. But I think guys like LaPierre, Comeau and Downie have played pretty tough in the Rangers end, and the Rangers' defense has been up to the challenge for the most part, as you said. It shouldn't be a surprise that the Rangers can play that way. If you've watched them all season, everything has kind of fed off the defense. When Lundqvist was hurt, there were a few games at first where Talbot was getting his legs and the defense was like a wall in front of him. Also, as much as everyone focuses on the Rangers ability to skate and move the puck, when they go cold, it is like a giant frost. It mostly coincided with Nash cooling off late in the season. Kevin Hayes stepped it up during that period, but other than when him and JT Miller were on the ice, in some games, the rest of the forwards looked like they were in quicksand. And the power play looked bad, too, for long stretches of the year, the way it has this series.I know that is kind of nitpicking, becuase they were still winning those games all year, butd it really was because their defense was so solid.