Pens ice Rangers in Game 2; Defending Crosby; Staal's return; The not-so-good-very-bad power play

The sky isn't falling. While the Rangers didn't leave the CONSOL Energy Center Sunday night with the result they wanted, they do return to the confines of Madison Square Garden with a tied series, and having stolen home ice advantage in a new best-of-five game series. So in short, there's still plenty of hockey left to be played. Your morning notes, and feliz cinco de Mayo.

Despite a great performance from Henrik Lundqvist, the Rangers dropped Game 2 in Pittsburgh 3-0, and will return home for Game 3 with the series tied 1-1. [Blueshirt Banter] [NY Post] [ESPN NY] [Daily News] [The Record] [Newsday] [Blueshirts United]

One note on Lundqvist here. I've watched countless hockey games in my lifetime, at many different levels, in many different settings. The individual performance Lundqvist put in was one of the best I've seen from a goalie in my lifetime. Just absolutely unreal. It was these types of games that made me think Lundqvist wouldn't re-sign with the Rangers after his current contract expires—the goalie stands on his head, and the team doesn't score. We know that now not to be the case, and the Rangers franchise is very lucky to have Lundqvist locked up long term.

On defending Sidney Crosby, and what not to do. [Blueshirt Banter]

Quite possibly one of the biggest keys to the Rangers postseason success thus far? That would be a healthy and effective Marc Staal. [ESPN NY] [Rangers Rants]

Another big component to the Blueshirts playoff victories? The team's overall depth, and a reliance in their coach's system of distributing minutes. [Daily News]

The Rangers top line has been held without a goal since Game 3 against Philadelphia in the first round. It's time they step up. [NY Post]

Entering Game 2 with what could only be called an anemic power play at best, Alain Vigneault threw Anton Stralman into the mix to try to shake things up. [NY Post] [Newsday] [Daily News]