Paul Martin #7 of the Pittsburgh Penguins skates with the puck against Mats Zuccarello #36 of the New York Rangers in Game Four of the Second Round of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs at Madison Square Garden on May 07, 2014 in New York City. (Photo by Scott Levy/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK -- No one in Pittsburgh should be dissuaded from remembering Game 4 of the Rangers series as The Malkin Game, starting as it did with Evgeni’s spinning backhand goal between the feet of a stunned Henrik Lundqvist.
No one should be diverted from the lingering image of Malkin, the leading Penguins scorer of this increasingly promising postseason, swooping all over the ice, trading ingenious passes with Sidney Crosby, setting up Chris Kunitz for a goal that erected the final arithmetic, 4-2 Penguins, and 3-1 in a fast evaporating Metropolitan Division final.
But let’s remember just as thoroughly the platform on which Game 4 was built, specifically the relentlessly reliable play of defenseman Paul Martin.
His plus-9 was the best such figure on both teams before the game, and his average time on ice, already the highest on both teams, inflated again Wednesday night at Madison Square Garden.
“All of us realized the importance of this game,” Martin said. “Now you’re going home with a chance to seal the deal [Friday night]. It comes down to how you manage the puck and the amount of pressure you can put on them. We kept their scoring chances down, their shots down and, hopefully, the rest takes care of itself.”
Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/sports/gene-collier/2014/05/08/Gene-Collier-Credit-Paul-Martin-for-Rangers-steep-deficit/stories/201405080246#ixzz317dp55ka
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