Shut out? Watch out, Penguins coach Michel Therrien says.
Hoping to ward off the Spectre of ’75 by finishing off the Rangers tomorrow, Therrien wants to see that famous Rocket Richard gleam from Sidney Crosby.
The Penguins’ first loss of these playoffs, 3-0 to the Rangers on Thursday at the Garden, didn’t prompt panic among the first team since the 1994 Rangers to win their first seven games of postseason.
But the Penguins did display frustration as they were blanked. Therrien said that being stifled could spur Crosby to make his mark on this series.
“If it doesn’t happen in one game, [Crosby] has that fire in his eyes. Maybe this is when he could be dangerous,” Therrien said.
The Penguins’ 20-year-old captain will be playing his 14th career playoff game when the Rangers visit Pittsburgh tomorrow for Game 5 of their best-of-7, second-round series. The Rangers are trying to match the Islanders’ 1975 feat of coming back from an 0-3 series deficit on the Penguins, yet the Rangers never have survived the 1-3 deficit they now face.
Crosby has taken a back seat in this series to teammate Evgeni Malkin, and to the Rangers’ Jaromir Jagr. Crosby has no goals and four assists while standing minus-1 in the four games. He even joined in the scrumwork with Malkin against Dan Girardi in the third period Thursday, drawing a roughing minor.
Therrien seemed to say “Good.”
“Sid always plays with emotion, and he needs to play with that emotion,” Therrien said. “When things are not going his way, he gets frustrated.
“You want him to be emotional.”
The Penguins always will be reminded that only their 1975 squad and the 1942 Red Wings have ever blown a 3-0 series lead, but Therrien pointed out that his team is in a more favorable position than the Rangers are.
“They have the pressure, since if they don’t win, their season’s over. We’ve got the pressure because if we don’t win we have to go back to New York,” Therrien said.
If this series returns to Madison Square Garden on Monday, the pressure will have started to equalize. To retain any of the aura of invincibility that began eroding with their first loss, the Penguins need to finish off the Rangers tomorrow. Otherwise, the Spectre of ’75 returns.
***
Therrien blamed Malkin’s slew-footing of Paul Mara in Game 3 on the emotion of being beaten and blanked.
“It was not a spear like [Sean] Avery did on [goalie Marc-Andre] Fleury,” Therrien said. “Maybe it was a 2-minute penalty. It was not a major thing.”