New York Daily News
Wednesday, April 30th 2008, 4:00 AM
NEW YORK - APRIL 29: Sidney Crosby #87 of the Pittsburgh Penguins chases Jaromir Jagr #68 of the New York Rangers during Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 29th, 2008 in New York City. The Penguins won the game 5-3 and lead the series 3-0. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
You can't play much better than Jaromir Jagr, who was all over the ice Tuesday night, dug for every puck like a diamond miner, scored a goal and assisted on another. You can only win, which is not an easy thing to do against these Penguins.
"We didn't play bad," Jagr said, his head slumped at his locker after the Rangers' 5-3 loss in Game 3. "I actually believe we can change this. We have a chance to make history."
You wanted to believe him, to think that the Rangers can now somehow win four straight, but of course he's out of his mind. The Rangers have no chance to capture more than perhaps one game against Pittsburgh, which has under cover of mid-Pennsylvania darkness somehow become the Edmonton Oilers of the 1980s.
They are young and brilliant and they are not just Sidney Crosby. They are also Evgeni Malkin, 21, who scored twice last night and Marc-Andre Fleury, 23, who stopped 36 shots.
Jagr can't overcome all that, this red-hot team with a glowing future. The countdown has begun for him, even if he can't quite admit it. One more game this season, maybe two. Jagr then becomes a free agent, and who knows? He isn't thrilled with Tom Renney's cautious offensive system, or the unrealistic expectations piled upon him.
Renney tried to ride his big guy in Game 3. Jagr played for almost 22 minutes, nearly five of them on the power play. He had an astounding 10 shots on goal during that time, scoring on a sharp-angled wrist shot to tie the game, 3-3, one last time at 13:11 of the second period. While Jagr was on the ice, the Rangers won this game by a goal.
NEW YORK - APRIL 29: Jaromir Jagr #68 of the New York Rangers scores a goal to tie the score 3-3 against the Pittsburgh Penguins in the second period of Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals of the 2008 NHL Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on April 29th, 2008 in New York City. (Photo by Jim McIsaac/Getty Images)
But again, that is not how these things work. There were 38 other minutes during the game without Jagr on the ice, and the Rangers were not nearly as dangerous when their 240-pound right wing sat on the bench.
"As outstanding as Malkin was for them, I thought Jaromir Jagr was the best player on the ice tonight," Renney said.
The Rangers have come tantalizingly close now three times without a victory in this series with the Penguins, who are a better team with younger stars. Hockey is about a lot of things. It can mesmerize with its flash and speed. But it is really all about finishing and goaltending. And in these two decisive categories, the Rangers have been outplayed to the brink of elimination.
There were little things that contributed to this kind of failure. Henrik Lundqvist allowed a soft goal early, and Ryan Callahan lifted his stick too high into the face of Hal Gill at just the wrong time. Renney tried to put some physicality into the lineup by playing Ryan Hollweg, and then that backfired when Hollweg committed the critical boarding penalty leading to Malkin's decisive goal late in the second period.
The Penguins were too often allowed to loiter around the crease like teenagers at the mall, setting effective screens that made their fewer shots far more deadly. The Rangers' power play was more playful than powerful, during two key five-on-three advantages in the second period.
There were all these reasons why the Rangers couldn't close the deal. The home team is all but done now, on the same schedule as last season only maybe a little quicker. And the biggest shame of all is that the Rangers have wasted another year in the wondrous career of Jagr, who doesn't have too many of these left on his stick.
He has three goals and nine assists in eight playoff games, yet there will soon be debate about his future. The Rangers open next season in Prague, and it would be a terrible shame if he wasn't there - if only because nobody has stepped up this season to become a more efficient scorer.
It would be better, of course, if the Rangers had Crosby or Malkin. They don't. That is painfully clear, as their young players struggle through another frustrating playoff run. The top scorers on the Rangers this postseason are Jagr, 36, Scott Gomez, 28, Chris Drury, 31, and Martin Straka, 35.
Jagr gave it everything in Game 3, and it wasn't nearly enough. He promised even more tomorrow, which probably won't be enough again.
"It might be my last game," he said. "Let's make it special."
fjbondy@netscape.net
No comments:
Post a Comment