The Pittsburgh Penguins have taken control of their series with the New York Rangers, winning Game Four to push the Blueshirts to the brink. New Orleans Saints Pro Shop . Notes on Crosby, Malkin, Nash and more. RANGERS REELING The Pittsburgh Penguins have been having their way with the New York Rangers and it continued in Game Four, with Pittsburgh winning 4-2 to take a 3-1 lead in the series. Through the first four games of this series, the Penguins have controlled play to a surprising degree, considering that the Rangers were a superior possession team during the regular season. In 5-on-5 score close situations against the Rangers, the Penguins are getting 59.5% of the shot attempts against the Rangers. Its hard enough to get the better of Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin, but if their team is dominating the puck, the hill gets awfully steep in a hurry. In Game Four, Crosby and Malkin, playing together, toyed with the Rangers, controlling better than 78% of the 5-on-5 shot attempts. Crosby contributed a couple of assists and Malkin had a goal and an assist to increase his team-leading playoff point total to 12 points in 10 games. Malkin only had three shots on goal, but had 13 attempts (six missed the net, four blocked). LW Chris Kunitz and defencemen Kris Letang and Paul Martin were also over 70% in terms of shot attempts. With Penguins D Brooks Orpik leaving after only 5:15 of ice time, Martin (30:05 TOI) and Letang (27:56 TOI) both logged heavy minutes. The mirror image, for the Rangers, is that Martin St. Louis, Carl Hagelin (who scored the Rangers first goal) and Brad Richards were getting worked, all on for 25% or less of the shot attempts. The Rangers had LW Chris Kreider in the lineup for the first time since March 24. He played 15:24 and was one of two Rangers to at least break even on shot attempts. The other Ranger with better than 50% Corsi in the game was the much-maligned Rick Nash, who led the Rangers with four shots on goal (and six attempts) but, for the eighth straight game, he was held without a point and has been a target for boos from the MSG faithful. Thats not unreasoanble, Nash has one goal in 23 playoff games with the Rangers over the past two seasons, yet over the past two regular seasons, hes scored 47 goals in 109 games -- his 0.43 goals per game in that span ranks 13th, between Joe Pavelski and Marian Hossa. Expectations are higher and the fact that the Rangers are unable to score, managing five goals in four games against Marc-Andre Fleury (not exactly the paragon of playoff goaltending in recent seasons), only serves to highlight Nashs playoff drought. It should go without saying that Nash generating as many shots as he is (a playoff-leading 45, with zero goals!) makes it likely that he will resume scoring soon but, for the Rangers sake, with time running out, it may not be soon enough. Fatigue, and a compacted schedule have been commonly cited reasons for the Rangers poor play in this series. Whatever the excuse might be, they are left without wiggle room now. They need to win three straight against the Penguins or they will have plenty of time to rest very soon. Scott Cullen can be reached at Scott.Cullen@bellmedia.ca and followed on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tsnscottcullen. For more, check out TSN Fantasy on Facebook. Cheap Saints Jerseys . "No difference at all," chirped U.S. roommate and linemate James van Riemsdyk. "Its still the same cranky Phil. New Orleans Saints Store . First, the Red Wings scored the tying goal after officials missed the puck hitting the protective netting, then the Kings wound up losing in a shootout. That could affect playoff positioning in the Eastern and Western Conferences, and thats a concern for everyone. https://www.saintsjerseyssale.com/ . The person spoke on condition of anonymity because no announcement was made. By releasing Bailey, the Broncos would open up cap space with the 12-time Pro Bowl player scheduled to make around $10 million next season.A breakout game for the Kings’ top line, continued production from Nick Foligno, lots of lineup news, Fantasy tips and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. HEROES Kings top line – Jeff Carter, Marian Gaborik and Anze Kopitar ignited the comeback against St. Louis, leading to a 6-4 win over the Blues. Carter had a goal and three assists, Gaborik had two goals and an assist, and Kopitar racked up a five-points (1 G, 4 A) game. Even with that game, Carter has all of seven points – one goal – in the past 14 games. Gaborik is on a three-game goal-scoring streak, during which he’s scored five goals; he had four goals in his first 18 games of the season. Kopitar, who is playing almost two minutes less per game this season (a career-low 18:54 per game) had four points (1 G, 3 A) in the previous 13 games before breaking out for his career-best five-point game against St. Louis. Nick Foligno – The Blue Jackets’ winger continued his remarkable start to the season with two goals and an assist in a 5-4 overtime loss to Washington. Foligno is the leading scorer among players slated to be unrestricted free agents next summer. On this list, I’ve also included each player’s on-ice shooting percentage, to indicate which players may be primed for regression. TOP-SCORING UFAs PLAYER TEAM POS GP G A PTS ON-ICE SH% Nick Foligno CBJ LW 30 16 14 30 10.8% Mike Ribeiro NSH C 30 9 17 26 10.6% Martin St. Louis NYR RW 29 10 13 23 10.7% Mike Santorelli TOR RW 32 6 16 22 12.8% Antoine Vermette ARI C 31 8 13 21 7.2% Carl Soderberg BOS C 32 6 15 21 9.1% Curtis Glencross CGY LW 33 6 15 21 9.4% Cody Franson TOR D 60 5 15 20 11.7% Jaromir Jagr NJ RW 32 5 15 20 7.4% Blake Comeau PIT RW 30 11 8 19 8.7% Calvin Pickard – Stopped 47 of 48 shots in a 1-0 loss at Pittsburgh. The 2010 second-round pick has been good (.934 SV%) in 11 games with the Avalanche this year and has a .920 save percentage in 13 AHL games this season. ZEROES Matt Duchene – Playing primarily against Sidney Crosby at even strength, the Avalanche centre was held without a shot attempt in 20:31 and had 40.6% possession (13 shot attempts for, 19 against) in a 1-0 overtime loss against Pittsburgh. Daniel Winnik – The reliable Maple Leafs winger did not have a shot attempt and was crushed in possession (3 shot attempts for, 16 against, 15.8%) in a 4-1 loss at Carolina. Martin Brodeur – After being staked to a 3-0 lead at Los Angeles, the Blues goaltender allowed six goals on 37 shots in a 6-4 loss at Los Angeles. Through four games with St. Louis, Brodeur has an .882 save percentage. LINEUP NEED TO KNOW Sidney Crosby – Pittsburgh’s superstar was back in the lineup after a few games off with mumps. He played 20:19 in his first game in 10 days. Christian Ehrhoff – Left Thursday’s game against Colorado with an undisclosed injury. If Ehrhoff is out, and with Olli Maatta now dealing with mumps, Brian Dumoulin would figure to get back into the Pittsburgh lineup. Max Pacioretty – The Canadiens left winger was crushed by Ducks D Clayton Stoner and left Thursday’s game. Vincent Lecavalier – Playing in his first game since November 29, the Flyers centre finished with their worst possession stats (7 shot attempts for, 18 against, 28.0%) against Florida. Emerson Etem – Played 12:50 for Ducks at Montreal, his first NHL game since November 20. He had three goals in five AHL games and missed some time with the mumps. Tyson Barrie – Played 16:51 vs. Pitsburgh, his third-lowest total of the season and was crushed (6 shot attempts, 20 against, 23.1%) in terms of puck possession. Nick Holden – The Avalanche blueliner played a season-low 4:26 against Pittsburgh, the third time in the past six games that he’s skated fewer than 10 minutes. Brad Stuart – Returned to Colorado lineup after missing six weeks with a hamstring injury. Thursday’s loss to Pittsburgh marked Stuart’s 1000th career game. Robyn Regehr – The veteran Kings defenceman played 6:27 before leaving with an upper-body injury. With Regehr gone early, Drew Douughty played a career-high 34:21. New Orleans Saints Gear. Tyler Toffoli – The Kings winger played a season-low 8:29 against St. Louis, being sent a message by head coach Darryl Sutter (more on Toffoli in Short Shifts). Dmitrij Jaskin – Played for St. Louis, his first NHL game in nearly six weeks, and scored a goal in a 6-4 loss at Los Angeles. He had 15 points (4 G, 11 A) in 18 AHL games. Melker Karlsson – The 24-year-old undrafted free agent from Sweden picked up a couple assists in the 4-3 win over Edmonton. SHORT SHIFTS Penguins G Marc-Andre Fleury stopped all 29 shots he faced against Colorado, giving him a league-leading six shutouts…Ducks G Frederik Andersen stopped 23 of 24 shots in a 2-1 win at Montreal…Hurricanes G Cam Ward turned aside 25 of 26 Maple Leafs shots in a 4-1 win…Panthers G Roberto Luongo stopped 25 of 26 shots in a 2-1 shootout win at Philadelphia…Flyers G Steve Mason saved 31 of 32 shots in the loss. Hurricanes D Justin Faulk recorded a goal and an assist in a 4-1 win over Toronto; it’s been a breakout offensive campaign for Faulk…Hurricanes D Andrej Sekera picked up a goal and an assist as well, giving him four points (1 G, 3 A) in the past four games…Hurricanes C Eric Staal had a pair of assists in Carolina’s win, which fits with expectations I wrote about earlier in the week…Capitals RW Eric Fehr had the overtime winning goal and an assist in a 5-4 win at Columbus; he has seven points (4 G, 3 A) in the past eight games…Panthers RW Scottie Upshall scored a goal, had 10 shot attempts (6 SOG) and 79.2% Corsi in 10:23 of ice time at Philadelphia…Penguins RW Steve Downie (14 for, 3 against, 82.4%) and RW Craig Adams (13 for, 2 against. 86.7%) were both plus-11 in shot attempts against Colorado…Hurricanes C Jay McClement had excellent possession (14 shot attempts for, 3 against, 82.4%) against Toronto. Seriously. Blue Jackets C Boone Jenner had 36.0% possession (9 for, 16 against) and was on for three goals against, none for, in a 5-4 overtime loss to Washington…The Kings line of Tanner Pearson, Trevor Lewis and Tyler Toffoli all had better than 80% possession against St. Louis…Sharks C Joe Thornton had the club’s best possession stats (17 for, 5 against, 77.3%) in a 4-3 win over Edmonton…As Travis Yost pointed out on Twitter, among skaters with at least 400 minutes at 5-on-5 this season, Thornton leads the league with 58.8% Corsi. CORSI% LEADERS - MINIMUM 400 MINUTES PLAYER TEAM POS. CORSI% Joe Thornton San Jose C 58.8% Nick Leddy N.Y. Islanders D 58.5% Tomas Hertl San Jose LW 58.4% Patrice Bergeron Boston C 58.4% Anton Stralman Tampa Bay D 58.1% Jonas Brodin Minnesota D 58.1% Marian Hossa Chicago RW 58.0% Duncan Keith Chicago D 57.5% Jake Muzzin Los Angeles D 57.4% Blake Wheeler Winnipeg RW 57.2% FIRSTS Matt Tennyson – The 24-year-old Sharks defenceman registered his first NHL goal, in his eighth career game, during the Sharks’ 4-3 win over Edmonton. Scott Harrington – A second-round pick in 2011, Harrington played his first NHL game for Pittsburgh, skating 13:33 at Colorado. FANTASY FOCUS Five games tonight, five players to consider for your lineup: Evgeni Nabokov – He has an .893 save percentage and is not Tampa Bay’s best option with Ben Bishop out, but the Lightning are facing the Devils and goals have not come easily in New Jersey. Mika Zibanejad – I’m still pumping these tires. He’s the Senators’ leading scorer in December with nine points (5 G, 4 A) in eight games and, aside from last game, has recently been playing more minutes than earlier in the season. Thomas Hickey – As long as Johnny Boychuk and Travis Hamonic are out, there are more minutes available on the Islanders blueline and Hickey is one of the prime beneficiaries. Mathieu Perreault – After a slow start to the year, Perreault has started to pick up the pace, with seven points (2 G, 5 A) in the past seven games. Cody Eakin – He has a modest 11 point in 27 games this year, with one point in the past six, but Eakin has been moved to the Stars’ first power play unit. Much of the data included comes from www.war-on-ice.com, www.puckalytics.com, www.hockeystats.ca and www.naturalstattrick.com Scott Cullen can be reached at scott.cullen@bellmedia.ca ' ' '