What Did He Say?

We're confused. How did two of New York's eminent Rangers beat writers miss the Lundqvist guarantee of a win? It was very newsworthy and the Pens fans have certainly picked up on it.

Joe Starkey / Pittsburgh Tribune-Review:
Insider: Lundqvist's promise -- Burning question: How reliable are sports guarantees? ...

"We know we can put more pressure on them. We're going to do that in New York, and we're going to get the win." -- Lundqvist, as quoted in the New York Daily News [by John Dellapina], after Game 2...

Why did Steve Zipay at Newsday just use the first half of the quote: "we know we can put more pressure on them," but not the second part?

Larry Brooks at the NY Post also only used a variation of the first part of the quote, "We know we have to put more pressure on them," in his Rangers story entitled: "Ranger Danger." But did not have the so-called "guarantee." Instead Brooks quotes Lundqvist saying:

...but hopefully in New York we'll find the way. We have to be confident that when we get back home we can take two the way they did here."

Sam Weinman of the Journal News has the full quote on his Rangers Report blog, and in an Journal News article. Strange.

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Pre-Game 3 Chatter:

Backs against the wall. How will our heroes respond?

Scotty Hockey:
You Know Its Bad ... -- When even Forbes Magazine is calling you out for being childish: When the referees do not call the other team for being in the same area of the ice as Crosby, Mr. Penguin whines like a 12 year girl old shut out of a Hannah Montana concert.

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Michael Obernauer /NY Daily News:
Rangers Happy To Be Home At MSG -- The Rangers are confident that their Eastern Conference semifinal series against the Penguins is about to turn around for the simple reason that the Broadway Blueshirts are coming home Tuesday. If they're wrong, they could be going home for summer in two days...

Kristie Ackert / NY Daily News:
Pens Set For Antics Of Sean Avery -- Petr Sykora and the Penguins have gotten just a glimpse of the Sean Avery who was the talk of the Rangers' first-round series. Tuesday, when they enter the Garden with a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference semifinal, they expect to see a lot more...

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Steve Zipay / Newsday:
Sniping between Rangers and Penguins before Game 3 -- Sniping and gamesmanship don't have a day off during an increasingly testy Eastern Conference semifinal series in which the verbal sparring began before the puck was dropped.

Penguins coach Michel Therrien laughed aloud when told yesterday that after Game 2, Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said the pressure was on Pittsburgh to win Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden...

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Arthur Staple / Newsday:
Rangers Must Rely On Their Experience -- The Penguins are not exactly beating up the Rangers, not knocking the New Yorkers silly after two games.

But the Rangers are getting beat. Holding serve at home, as the phrase goes, might be no cause for alarm in the home-heavy NBA or in Major League Baseball, but in hockey, a team that expects to win a playoff series expects to win one of the first two on the road...

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Jay Greenburg / NY Post:
Passing Grade -- When in doubt, shoot, unless your triggerman is shooting holes in that theory. "When you look at Pittsburgh, they don't shoot the puck," said Jaromir Jagr, who has scored 23 career postseason power-play goals. "They make cross-ice passes, making four guys tired and then somebody is going to be open ...

Mark Everson / NY Post:
Perfect Penguins Showing 6 Appeal -- Uh-oh, 6-0. It has failed only once in 40 years. Tonight, the Rangers must end that Penguins playoff perfection or they'll be at a brink from which hardly anyone ever returns. Drastic Rangers measures seem dictated for Game 3 at the Garden tonight. Of the 20 teams since expansion that have opened a playoff season winning their first half-dozen, 18 have gone to the Stanley Cup Finals, winning 10 Cups....

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Sam Weinman / Journal News
Rangers Back Home, Hopeful -- The flight home from Pittsburgh was everything you'd expect. The Rangers had just dropped their second game to the Penguins in their Eastern Conference semifinal, and for at least Sunday evening, players allowed themselves to stew over a missed opportunity.

"It was a quiet flight to say the least," forward Fred Sjostrom said. "We know we can play better and we haven't reached our full potential in this series. Hank (Henrik Lundqvist) is playing out of his mind, and you don't want to waste that. I think everybody was a little angry. We know we can do so much better." ..

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Lynn Zinser / NY Times:
Old Teammates Understand Why Winning And Drury Seem Inseparable -- When they came home from Williamsport, Pa., as Little League World Series champions that beautiful August day in 1989, the 15 boys from Trumbull, Conn., were full of youth and spunk, with seemingly boundless futures ahead of them.

But the spotlight fell on their championship-winning pitcher, the one player who wanted it least. And it has followed Chris Drury his whole life....

Going 5-Hole:
Henrik Lundqvist: “We’re going to win.” -- So, if Henrik is feeling confident, then I’m feeling confident...

Chris Kotsopoulos [retired National Hockey League player] /
Kotsy's Korner! blog:
Pens Take Game 2, 2-0 -- Jordan Staal beat Henrik Lundqvist with a nice move on a power play that gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead. The goal was scored on another questionable penalty call on Chris Drury (I think it was a weak call, it appeared Hossa was grabbing Drury's stick rather than Drury hooking him)...

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Penguin Scat

Seth Rorabaugh, Empty Netter blog / Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
The culprit? -- We've had some harsh words for the NHL's Reebok Edge-Super-Duper-Mega-Ultra-Awesome-Humungo-Women-Will-Want-You Uniform System. The initial versions of the uniforms were about as breathable as a rubber suit. Players constantly complained the sweat they generated during games would basically be diverted to their gloves and skates...

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The Pensblog:
Hold Your Tongue. The Big Apple. -- Last year, we got panned when we made fun of Marty Straka. But a year older, a year less wiser. Being that Straka has turned into a big baby, it is worth bringing up what our joke about what the weight machine is about...

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Penguins Q&A with Dave Molinari -- Q: Jaromir Jagr may be a free agent at the end of the season. Do you have any reason to think that he might be interested in coming back to the Pens?

Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Perfect start no cause for pressure -- A year ago, the Penguins dipped their toes in the dangerous waters of the playoffs and drowned in a five-game, first-round schooling by Ottawa. This year, things certainly are different...

Shelly Anderson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
Series puts Jordan and Marc Staal on opposite sides -- One day soon, brothers Marc and Jordan Staal will have a lot to talk about -- although Marc Staal hopes it's not too soon, so that he and the New York Rangers have a chance to extend their second-round series against Jordan and the Penguins...

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