Rangers, Penguins Preparing For Game 7

from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,

This is the time and this is the place. Game 7. Rangers’ Time.
Almost too late, but just in time, the Rangers found their soul and they found their game and so here they are, this team that has been a tough, tough out for three years running, still one strike away from elimination, that’s true, but now holding the hammer on the Penguins and Pittsburgh’s season.
It’s Game 7 of the Eastern semis on Tuesday, the Rangers in their fifth winner-take-all match since 2012, having won them all, and the Penguins in their third since winning the Cup in a Game 7 in Detroit in 2009, losing these last two, and both at home.

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from Ron Cook of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette,

Win or lose Game 7 tonight against the New York Rangers, Penguins star Sidney Crosby will be back next season as the face of the franchise and of the NHL.
Win tonight and Penguins coach Dan Bylsma will be back.
I assume you notice the difference?
It hardly seems fair in some ways. Any coach is only as good as his star players. Many of Bylsma's stars haven't been nearly good enough against the Rangers. That's especially true of Crosby, who acknowledged after the Penguins' 3-1 loss in Game 6 Sunday night that he would like to be doing more, but then said, in a rare curt, defensive moment, that he would leave the evaluation of his play to others.

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from Arthur Staple of Newsday,

The players on both sides can't afford to look at anything except Tuesday night, Game 7 -- a chance to advance to the Eastern Conference finals for the second time in three years for the Rangers or the second straight year for the Penguins.
Whoever wins gets the rush of good feeling about moving on. That's incentive enough.
There's also another incentive that looms large over both of these relatively successful teams. Another win means staving off what could be big changes in the offseason.

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from David Shoalts of the Globe and Mail,

There is a funny thing about these Pittsburgh Penguins and their dance along the knife edge of oblivion.
A win Tuesday night in Game 7 of their second-round NHL playoff series against the New York Rangers means head coach Dan Bylsma and his confounding players can turn to management and say, “Hey, now we’re in our fourth conference final in the last six years. We must be great.”
A loss, though, means owners Mario Lemieux and Ron Burkle look at general manager Ray Shero and say, “This is the fifth consecutive year your team was knocked out of the playoffs by a lower-seeded opponent. Tell us why you, Bylsma and most of the players should not be sacked.”

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Rangers, Penguins Preparing For Game 7

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