The Pittsburgh Penguins are playing on Wednesday night to take a 3-1 lead in their Eastern conference series against the Ottawa Senators in Game 4 after winning the last game and Sidney Crosby will be looking to score as the series stays in Canada for another tilt.
The two sides have been evenly matched throughout the series and Evgeni Malkin is leading the team with 14 points, while Daniel Alfredsson is tops for the Senators. On the other side the Rangers are on the brink at 3-0 against the Boston Bruins and now the team has a must win in Game 4 to just stay alive. The team has had issues scoring and starting off well in series this postseason and now it has comeback to bite them.
Boston fourth-liner Daniel Paille scored the game winner with 3:31 left on the clock after assisting defenseman Johnny Boychuk to tie the score at the start of the period. Bruins scored twice in the final period to beat the New York Rangers 2-1 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday and grab a commanding 3-0 lead in their National Hockey League (NHL) playoff.
The Rangers, who have struggled on offense throughout the best-of-seven Eastern Conference semi-final, had gone ahead when Taylor Pyatt deflected a wrist shot from Ryan McDonagh in the second period but spent most of the game defending. Paille then put the visitors in front when he pounced on a save by Lundqvist, getting his stick on the puck first and trickling it into the net to give the Bruins the win in a match-up of 'Original Six' teams.
Boston goaltender Tuukka Rask stopped 23 of the 24 shots that came the Finn's way as the Bruins, who won the Stanley Cup two years ago, tied the game when Paille fed the puck to Boychuk and he managed to get one past Lundqvist. "We felt pretty good the whole game, even when we were down 1-0," said Paille. "Obviously we're confident for the series but it's not over."
The teams will meet again in Manhattan on Thursday with the Rangers needing to win to send the series back to Boston. The eventual winner will play either Pittsburgh or Ottawa in the Eastern Conference final. (Reuters quotes)
