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The Pittsburgh Penguins have taken control of their series with the New York Rangers, winning Game Four to push the Blueshirts to the brink. 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. Lance Lynn Jersey .com) - Robert Upshaw made a putback jumper to put 17th-ranked Washington ahead with 1:27 remaining in the game and the Huskies held on to beat Eastern Washington 81-77 on Sunday. Whitey Herzog Jersey .com) - Ryan Miller made 28 saves to record his fifth shutout of the season and second in as many nights as the Vancouver Canucks defeated the Carolina Hurricanes 3-0 on Friday. https://www.cheaprangersbaseball.com/3222h-nate-jones-jersey-rangers.html . Chris Heisey connected for his first grand slam and Devin Mesoraco homered and drove in a career high-tying four runs as Cincinnati took advantage of Tampa Bays depleted pitching staff for a 12-4 victory on Sunday. Kyle Bird Rangers Jersey .6 seconds left to give the Toronto Raptors a 92-89 victory over the Boston Celtics in an exhibition game Wednesday night. Rangers Jerseys 2020 . Adam Lind provided the power and rookie starter Marcus Stroman had the best start of his young career as the Blue Jays dumped the Yankees 8-3 at Rogers Centre. Stroman, making his fifth start for Toronto, allowed one earned run and three hits over a career-high eight innings.EAST LANSING, Mich. -- With some swagger and a sweet stroke, Nik Stauskas lifted Michigan to a rare win at Michigan State. Stauskas made a tiebreaking 3-pointer with 3:12 left and finished with 19 points to lead the 21st-ranked Wolverines to an 80-75 win over the third-ranked Spartans on Saturday night to remain the only Big Ten team without a conference loss. The sophomore shooting guard had four assists and unofficially had another one, separating coach John Beilein from a face-to-face argument with an official with 4:01 remaining. "He was about to get a technical," Stauskas said. Stauskas helped the usually mild-mannered Beilein from saying or doing something that might cost his team points just before the Wolverines (15-4, 7-0 Big Ten) went on a 10-0 run late in the game to take control. "Thats a great step in his leadership," Beilein said with a grin. The Wolverines won for just the second time in 15 games at the Breslin Center. Michigan is the first team since at least the 1996-97 season to win three straight games against top-10 teams in the regular season, according to STATS. The Wolverines, who had never pulled off that feat in school history, were coming off a win against No. 10 Iowa at home after beating then-No. 3 Wisconsin on the road. "This is a great win for us because of who we were just able to beat," Beilein said. "Its one of the classiest, best programs in the country." Freshman Derrick Walton Jr. scored a season-high 19 and Caris LeVert scored 17 for the Wolverines, who have won nine straight without standout centre Mitch McGary. The Spartans (18-2, 7-1) had won 11 straight since losing to North Carolina at home, but the streak was snapped by their rival soon after another injury-related setback. "The better team won," coach Tom Izzo ackknowledged.dddddddddddd Adreian Payne missed a fifth straight game with a sprained right foot and Branden Dawson was out for the first time since the junior forward said he broke his right hand hitting a table. Michigan, though, didnt have any sympathy. The Wolverines, who lost Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. early to the NBA, have been playing without McGary because he needed back surgery since losing to No. 1 Arizona in a closely contested game. Michigan States Gary Harris scored a career-high 27 points and didnt get much help offensively from his team that was without two of its best players. Freshman Alvin Ellis scored a season-high 12 points, surpassing his scoring total from his first seven Big Ten games. Keith Appling was held to 10 points on 3 of 11 shooting, playing with a wrist injury and bad back. "He just cant shoot right now with that wrist," Izzo said. Michigan turned 11 offensive rebounds into 15 second-chance points as it outrebounded the Spartans 34-30. The Wolverines have won five of seven in the series after losing 18 of 21, and Appling took the latest loss hard because he will not play them again at home. "I feel like I lost a close family member," he said softly. "Thats how bad it hurts." Michigan got off to a great start with Stauskas making jumpers, pumping his fist and shouting as he ran back to play defence. The Wolverines started 4 of 4 from the field and led 10-2 before losing the lead midway through the first half as Michigan States defensive intensity picked up and its crowd began to roar. Michigan made shots when it needed them most in the second half, scoring 50 points after halftime, including 5 of 8 on 3-pointers and 23 of 27 at the line. "Youre not going to beat too many teams when they shoot that way," Harris said. ' ' '