from Shelly Anderson of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

If the Penguins and New York Rangers could have borrowed a possession arrow from basketball, there’s little doubt which team it would have been pointing toward Thursday.

The Penguins were sitting on three wins in a row, including Games 3 and 4 at Madison Square Garden, giving them a commanding, 3-1 lead in the second-round playoff series. They can clinch a spot in the Eastern Conference final as soon as tonight, when Game 5 will be played at Consol Energy Center.

“We have an opportunity back here in Game 5, and we have to be as desperate as we’ve been all playoffs long to try to get that fourth win here at home,” Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said on the day between games.

The Rangers, meanwhile, were between still reeling from their giveaway-filled, 4-2 loss in Game 4 — goaltender Henrik Lundqvist called it “absolutely brutal” after practice Thursday — and steeling themselves to avoid elimination.

“We win Game 1. We are on top of the world,” New York center Brad Richards said. “You lose three in a row, and, as quickly as it went that way, it can go right back. The bounces, momentum, all that stuff can go back in our favor.”

continued