PITTSBURGH — He skates between two of the best players in the world, so Derek Stepan knows the pressure is on.
Stepan centers a line with Rick Nash and Martin St. Louis, the former a world-class talent and the latter a future Hall of Famer. Yet now eight games into this postseason, Nash has zero goals and St. Louis has two.
No one on the line has scored since Game 3 of the first-round series against the Flyers, and though the Rangers won Game 1 in this second-round matchup against the Penguins on Friday night, Stepan knows it is important his line produces.
“Our line, for some reason, can’t seem to buy one right now,” Stepan said on Saturday afternoon, his team getting the day off practice in preparation for Sunday night’s Game 2 at the CONSOL Energy Center. “But I feel our last few games have been good. We’ve had some good looks. All three of us had some really good looks in the last game and we haven’t seemed to be able to put one in the back of the net.”
Stepan, who finished the regular season second on the team with 57 points, said he won’t change his game just because it’s the playoffs.
“In my short playoff career, I think the biggest thing is you have to do you,” Stepan said. “You play the way you played all season long and made you successful. There is a different atmosphere to playoff hockey, but there are certain things that you have to continue to do that make you the player you are.”
Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were on the ice together for just three shifts on Friday, totaling 2:30. Coach Dan Bylsm a put them together for the final two games of their first-round series against the Blue Jackets, and yet the Rangers are trying not to concern themselves too much with matchups.
“I try not to anticipate too much going into the game, especially against players like that,” defenseman Marc Staal said. “I think throughout a game, you’re ready when your name is called and you do as you’re told, when you’re on ice and when to change and when not to. Whoever is one the ice, both of them or one of them, you have to play the same way. You can’t give those guys time, space.”
Crosby, like Nash, is without a goal this postseason. Yet, according to Rangers coach Alain Vigneault, the Penguins star still is contributing.
“I thought he played a really good game,” Vigneault said of Crosby’s Game 1, when he was pointless and minus-3. “He made it really hard on us. They had some transition looks, they had some looks down low. I mean he’s an elite player that is real tough to handle for us and we’re going to need a lot of help to stop him.”