Alive... for at least the weekend

Die hard Rangers fans like Tim from Northport can breathe -at least until about Sunday at 5:30 pm. The Rangers have survived another day after winning Game 4 of their playoff series with the Penguins last night at MSG. The Blueshirts shutout the Pens 3-0. Two players come to mind:

Jaromir Jagr: Remember when fans were booing the 36 year old captain. Not now. Jagr has been inspired throughout the playoffs. He’s clearly thinking this could be the end of his NHL career. How SCARY was it when Jagr was blasted by Orpik after his first goal last night? Lose “Mario, Jr.” (Yes, you can get that from “Jaromir”) and any shot the Rangers had in the series is done. Obviously, Jagr is not the player he once was. But, he still gets double teamed a lot and can make the players around him better. To see him bickering with Crosby and encouraging other Rangers was a sight to behold.

Memo to GM Sather: Re-sign Jagr. He’s proven he can still be a force. It looks like he has no problem thinking of himself as a supplemental player who explodes in spots rather than just be “THE MAN” all the time. That can prove very useful to the youngsters the Rangers have on the team.

Henrik Lundqvist: The guy teammates call ‘Hank’ rebounded from a horrible Game 3. As good as Lundqvist is, not showing up for Game 3 probably cost the team the series. Still, he was a rock last night. I’m still trying to figure out what happened to Malkin on the penalty shot. He looked like he was in slow motion from the get go. All Lundqvist has to do is repeat last night’s game three more times-twice on the road-and the Rangers will advance. That’s probably too much to ask for.

As we head to Game 5, the usual staples apply:

Score first: Keep planting the seed of doubt into Pittsburgh and their fans. Remember: the Rangers AREN’T down 0-3 anymore. Now it’s 3-1 in the series, and though improbable, not impossible.

PLEASE stay away from the Sin Bin: Crosby, Malkin and Co. are tough enough in 5-on-5 play. Facing ‘em with a man advantage is like leaving a wolf alone in a chicken coop.

Pepper Marc-Andre Fluery: It’s a time of desperation anyway. Anytime you can put the puck on net, do it. It should have worked in Game 3, but Lundqvist wasn’t up to the task.

Be physical with Crosby and ESPECIALLY Malkin: Like most high priced prima donnas, they don’t like to be hit, especially Malkin, who did a little soft shoe on Paul Mara in the later stages of last night’s game. Mara won’t forget that.

Let’s hope for a Game 5 Monday -at least so that Tim in Northport will breathe through the weekend.

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