PITTSBURGH — Much like the Joe Pesci character in the unforgettable scene in “Goodfellas,” Sidney Crosby is not here to amuse you.
Following Friday’s morning skate at which the Penguins went through their final on-ice prep for a potential Game 5 KO of the Rangers, No. 87 was asked if he were “amused” by the fact that questions regarding his health had ceased in the wake of his dramatically improved play in Games 2, 3 and 4 of the Eastern Conference semis.
“I don’t keep track of the questions,” said Crosby, whose opening goal in Pittsburgh’s 2-0 Game 3 victory at the Garden ended his postseason 13-game drought. “I just try to answer them.”
The questioner tried again with “amuse” angle.
“I’m not amused, honestly,” he responded. “It’s the playoffs, so I have to deal with all that stuff.”
And with that, No. 87 pulled out a gun and shot the interrogator in the foot.
No, no. He did not do that. Did not.
Crosby is wounding the Rangers, that’s for sure, and he’s not doing it alone. No one on the Rangers’ side sees the slightest bit of humor in trying to contain No. 87 when he skates on a line with Evgeni Malkin, originally a fallback strategy for Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma that has become the Penguins’ default tactic as the second round has evolved.
The pair was together for 14:15 of Crosby’s 15:43 of even-strength ice time in the Penguins’ 4-2 Game 4 victory in which Malkin opened the scoring on a feed from Crosby just 2:31 into the match.
“It’s something we’ve been doing more,” Crosby said. “We’d gotten away from it after we’d done it a while ago.”
Actually, Crosby and Malkin were on together for only 97 minutes of the 1,273 minutes Crosby played at five-on-five during the regular season, which amounts to less than 8 percent of the time. The power couple was together about 20 percent of the time in 2011-12. In 2007-08, then-coach Michel Therrien united Crosby and Malkin for nearly 47 percent of their five-on-five shifts.
“I don’t think much has changed; hopefully it creates a little more space for both of us,” said Crosby, who has three points (1-2) in the first four games of the series while Malkin had five (2-3). “Most guys like to give up the puck and then get it back, or give it and then go on the forecheck, but Geno likes to carry the puck so I try and read off of him.
“We have to make sure that we support one another,” said No. 87, the overwhelming favorite to win the Hart Trophy. “He’s always looking for that open ice and to go, so I try to be aware of that.”
The Rangers, of course, have no choice other than to beware the Crosby-Malkin partnership. The Blueshirts’ success is built largely on puck possession and pace. But Game 4’s puck-possession stats based on shots attempted for/against while on the ice had Malkin at 78 percent (29/8) and Crosby at 76 percent (22/7).
The Blueshirts, meanwhile, were debited with 25 turnovers in Game 4 after committing 20 in Game 3. The first goal of Game 4 was the result of a sequence that began with Anton Stralman making an unwise pass from deep in his zone into the middle of the ice just across the blue line that Malkin intercepted.
“We’re on the puck quick, with a big part of our success making sure that everyone’s moving their feet, getting the puck in deep and going to work there,” Crosby said. “They are a really skilled team and you could see by their second goal in Game 4 [scored on a rush by Mats Zuccarello], they can generate a lot if they get the blue line, so we’ve been a little more aggressive there.
“They’re a very effective team with the puck and with any kind of space, so we have to make sure to have all of our forwards back. We want to flip it on them if we can and make it really hard for them to play their game.”
And that has been no laughing matter for the Rangers.