PITTSBURGH — To hear the New York Rangers tell it, adversity is now the Pittsburgh Penguins' constant companion.
Yes, one loss in eight NHL playoff games this spring and you have to wonder why there isn't a family-sized tub of Prozac in the Penguins dressing room. Or how they can muster the will to get out of bed Sunday morning to face the Rangers in the fifth game of their Eastern Conference semi-final.
"Absolutely," said Ranger defenceman Paul Mara, whose slewfooting by Penguins star Evgeni Malkin near the end of the Rangers' 3-0 win in Game 4 was offered as Exhibit A in the Penguins' pending self-destruction. Further evidence was the penalties taken late in the game by Malkin and Sidney Crosby for avenging a hit on teammate Marian Hossa.
"They're a young team over there and I think we have the momentum now going into their building," Mara added.
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Rangers head coach Tom Renney, a sly fellow who's been around the NHL block, said there is "maybe a bit of dent in the armour," although he was cagey enough to allow "we're talking about pretty thick armour here."
Actually, folks, it is to laugh.
The Rangers went from being down 3-0 in the best-of-seven series to being down 3-1. Now they have to win a game in the Penguins' arena to survive.
Their best player, Jaromir Jagr, is 36 years old and operating practically by himself. Chris Drury, who was supposed to be their playoff leader, is playing with an aching set of bruised ribs. If you can call skating around, hunched over in agony, playing.
Their goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, is playing well for the most part. He won Game 4 for them along with Jagr. But he was ordinary in Game 3 and outplayed by the Penguins goaltender, Marc-Andre Fleury in the other two games despite his excellence..
When Penguins head coach Michel Therrien was asked about all this alleged adversity his team was facing, he managed to keep a straight face.
"It's a challenge but I don't think it's adversity," he said. "Even if it is a little bit of adversity, this team has faced adversity through the season and especially the second half.
"When you lose your captain, Sidney Crosby [to an ankle sprain], there were not a lot of people believing, first of all, we were going to make the playoffs. We ended up losing Crosby, and Fleury, and the odds were against us. So that was adversity.
"After four games, leading 3-1, we feel comfortable to play at home [Sunday] in front of our fans, who give a young team the emotional push that we need to play a playoff game."
Elsewhere around the Penguins dressing room, the attitude was that if that was what the Rangers were peddling, well, okay for them.
"What's said in the locker room is up to them," Penguins defenceman Rob Scuderi said. "They're trying to give themselves some life so they can win Game 5 also.
"Whatever they have to say is New York Rangers business. For us, we're just worried about what we can do and we can control, which is to win Game 5."
Well, for those looking for a little sign of trouble, the Penguins will be without centre Maxime Talbot again. He broke his foot blocking a shot in Game 3 and despite Therrien's coyness about his status, it is highly unlikely Talbot will play Sunday. But his place will be taken again by 41-year-old Gary Roberts, who has a Stanley Cup ring and knows a thing or two about playoff hockey.
If the Penguins lose again Sunday and have to go back to New York and try to finish off the Rangers in the hostile atmosphere of Madison Square Garden, maybe that will quality as adversity. Right now, it's just motivation to win.
Penguins winger Pascal Dupuis said what happened in the last game "is over." What matters is Sunday's game.
"We feel great in our building," he said.. "They'll be a desperate hockey team, but we will be, too. We don't want to go back [to New York]."
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