Things to Watch ... And Other Series Notes

Finally, after all the waiting, the Penguins return to the ice in round 2 tonight.

As the series gets underway, there are several particular things which will be interesting to watch.

Will the Penguins maintain their discipline and not take unnecessary penalties, especially when they know Rangers superpest Sean Avery will be trying to get under their collective skin every time he's on the ice? They can reduce him to a sideshow -- and possible distraction for his own team -- if they just ignore him.

Will the Penguins make a habit of crashing the net and taking the abuse necessary to make life miserable for Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist? To win the series, they have to get in his kitchen. Bump him ... make him uncomfortable ... keep him from seeing the puck. Then, when they get shots, get them upstairs.

Speaking of shots, will the Penguins continue to keep getting the pucks to the net with regularity like they did in the Ottawa series, when they averaged nearly 40 shots per game. The more pucks they throw at Lundqvist, the better.

Will the Penguins come out of the gate in game 1 tonight with the same energy they showed in opening up the playoffs against the Senators. They set the tone for that series from the beginning and it just carried through all 4 games. A series between these 2 squads could be long, but the impact of the way the both teams play in the first 5 or 10 minutes of game 1 shouldn't be understated.

It seems still up in the air as to whether Gary Roberts will return to the lineup in game 1 tonight. He went hard in 2 full practices with the team the last few days, but probably remains a game time decision this evening. Having him in the lineup is undoubtedly meaningful to the Penguins, particularly in a game 1, but if there's still a question at this point about whether his groin can stand up to game action, I can't help but think continuing to hold him out until he's sure he can go out there without risk of re-injury may not be the best idea. Then again, this is the playoffs, which means players don't wait for a return to 100%. We'll see what happens with him.

I read a note in the New York Daily News yesterday indicating that Rangers coach Tom Renney was considering deploying a Ryan Hollweg, Blair Betts and Colton Orr unit against Crosby's line for at least some of the series, in part because,according to the coach, they did well against Sid's unit at times in the regular season.

If I'm the Penguins, I'm praying that Renney puts that unit together against Crosby's line. Not only would I expect Crosby and Hossa to win that battle, it would also keep the other Rangers players off the ice simply because #87 and #18 will be on the ice a lot, requring the Rangers to deploy those guys more than they normally would -- or should.

That's all for now. Can't wait for the action to resume tonight. I'll post a game #1 recap tomorrow.