Game Two Recap (Penguins 2, Rangers 0)

Yeah, that was more like it.

The teams relearned how to play defense in the day between games one and two. Plus, the rest day gave the Rangers an opportunity to loudly beat the drum that Sidney Crosby is a chronic diver enabled by inept officials. That makes a nice side dish to the moronic conspiracy theory that the NHL is trying to preordain Crosby's presence in the Stanley Cup Finals. Oh, yeah. Crosby's such a national draw that I'm sure his presence would draw more eyeballs than having the team from North America's largest media market in the championship round.

But what's strange is how Jaromir Jagr is the chief prosecutor in the diving charges. It's as if he forgot all those years he spent with the Penguins fighting through hooks and holds and drawing only a fraction of the penalties that were committed against him. Does Jagr seriously maintain that he never made it visibly clear that he was being fouled in order to get a call? His mentor Mario Lemieux sure did. In fact, there's a fearful symmetry at work here. Before they roared back to beat the Rangers in Game One, the last time the Penguins overcame a three-goal deficit in the playoffs was Game One of the 1992 Finals, which appeared headed for overtime until right before the period ended and a penalty was drawn by Mario Lemieux, leading to a goal by Lemieux and the beginning of a four-game sweep. Mike Keenan accused Lemieux of diving ("I can't respect Mario for diving," Keenan said. "The best player in the game is embarrassing himself and embarrassing the game."). When teams are losing and unable to keep up with another team's skill player or players, diving accusations are a predictable way to try to curry favor from officials. I just never imagined it would be Jagr who would level the charge, but then again I never imagined he'd be playing out the string on a team that plays a modified neutral-zone trap, either. Kevin Constantine would be proud of you, pal.

Even though Jagr got some shots on net in Game Two, he was far less fearsome lugging the puck with no room on the ice. It probably helps that Jordan Staal has been shadowing Jagr. It's clear at this point that nobody is going to believe that the Penguins are a really good defensive team until or unless they win the Cup, despite all evidence to the contrary. And it's clear that Marc-Andre Fleury is still going to be considered untested and unproven no matter how low his GAA is or how high his save percentage is. But that's OK. On Sunday, Sean Avery got an end-of-game reminder that Fleury is ready for his close-up. He gave Martin Lapointe the same how-do-you-do in the Conference Quarterfinals, and I couldn't be happier to see him taking on a bit of an edge.

Still, it's only two games.