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Pens shoot for sweep of Rangers at the Garden

Thu 1st, May 2008

(Sports Network) - The second-seeded Pittsburgh Penguins will try to complete a sweep of the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semifinals tonight, when they visit the New York Rangers for Game 4 at Madison Square Garden.

The Penguins, champions of the Atlantic Division, utilized their home-ice advantage in Games 1 and 2, winning both tests to take a two-game lead to New York.

Pittsburgh kept the pressure on the fifth-seeded Rangers in Tuesday's meeting in Manhattan, as the Pens notched a 5-3 decision to take a three games to none lead in the best-of-seven series.

The Pens swept Ottawa in the opening round and are 7-0 in the postseason to record the longest winning streak to open a playoff year in club history. Pittsburgh's record for consecutive victories in one postseason came in 1992 when the Pens won their final 11 games to post their second straight Stanley Cup championship.

To win this series, the Rangers need to become just the third team in NHL history to erase an 0-3 deficit to take a playoff series. However, the Penguins are one of the two clubs to blow a 3-0 edge, as they lost in seven games to the New York Islanders in the 1975 quarterfinals. The 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs also overcame the 0-3 hole to defeat Detroit in the Stanley Cup finals.

New York will have to pull off the monumental comeback without energetic forward Sean Avery, who is out for the remainder of the playoffs after being hospitalized Wednesday morning with a lacerated spleen. Avery was injured during Tuesday's game and was taken to St. Vincent's Hospital in New York. Although Avery will miss the rest of the postseason, he is expected to make a full recovery in the offseason.

Avery recorded an assist in Tuesday's game and had four goals with three assists for seven points in eight playoff games this year.

The 28-year-old Avery is best known for his antagonistic style of play, which draws the ire of opponents. His faceguarding of New Jersey Devils goaltender Martin Brodeur in Game 3 of the first round of the playoffs forced the NHL to revise its unsportsmanlike conduct penalty rule.

New York may also be without centermen Chris Drury (torso) and Blair Betts (facial injury), as both players are questionable after suffering injuries in Game 3.

Evgeni Malkin registered two goals and an assist in Tuesday's victory at MSG. Malkin leads Pittsburgh with 13 points (5 goals, 8 assists) in seven postseason games this season. Captain Sidney Crosby is just one point behind with two goals and 10 assists.

Marian Hossa added a goal and a helper for the Penguins, who are one win away from advancing to the conference finals for the first time since 2001, when it lost to New Jersey.

Georges Laraque and Ryan Malone also tallied, while Crosby, Petr Sykora and Sergei Gonchar picked up two assists each for Pittsburgh.

Marc-Andre Fleury recorded his seventh win of the postseason with a 36-save effort. Fleury is 7-0 with 1.72 goals against average and .940 save percentage in this year's playoffs.

Jaromir Jagr and Martin Straka had one goal and one assist apiece for the Rangers.

Ryan Callahan added a goal while Henrik Lundqvist had a subpar game, allowing five goals on only 17 shots.

The Rangers are in the conference semifinals for the second straight year, as they defeated Atlanta in the opening round a year ago before falling to Buffalo in the second stage. The Blueshirts haven't made it past the second round since losing to Philadelphia in the 1997 conference finals.

Pittsburgh is 3-0 all-time against the Rangers in the postseason, with the Pens' last victory coming in five games during the 1996 conference semifinals.

New York went 5-3 against the Penguins this year and the Blueshirts allowed Pittsburgh to score more than three goals against them just once during the regular season.

The Rangers had a solid 25-13-3 record at the Garden this season, while Pittsburgh was 21-17-3 as the road team.

If necessary, Game 5 of this series will take place in Pittsburgh on Sunday afternoon.

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