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Penguins poised to reach conference finals

May 1, 2008 - 1:39 PM Pittsburgh at NY Rangers 7:00 pm EDT Eastern Conference semifinals Penguins lead, 3-0

NEW YORK (Ticker) - The Pittsburgh Penguins have been unstoppable.

The second-seeded Penguins try to close out the seventh-seeded New York Rangers when the teams meet for Game Four of the Eastern Conference semifinals on Thursday.

Hart Trophy finalist Evgeni Malkin scored a pair of power play goals, including one that snapped a tie late in the second period, as Pittsburgh took a commanding three-games-to-none lead over the Rangers with a 5-3 triumph in Game Three on Tuesday.

Malkin added an assist, Marian Hossa scored a goal and set up another and Marc-Andre Fleury made 36 saves for the Penguins, who became the first team since the 1994 Rangers to win their first seven games of a postseason.

"When you get to the playoffs, it's tough," Pittsburgh coach Michel Therrien said. "We're not thinking about winning the first seven games. We're taking it game to game."

"We are in a great position," said Hossa, a trade-deadline acquisition from Atlanta. "Nobody would think we would be in this position after three games, but right now, we are greedy. We want to win another one."

The Rangers outshot the Penguins, 39-17, but had no answer on special teams as Pittsburgh went 2-for-3 with a man advantage.

"As much as anything our special teams have to be better," New York coach Tom Renney said. "As a team what is impressive about them is that they are bending but not breaking. ... We have certainly found some things that work for us - as we anticipated it would. We needed it three games ago."

Only two teams have overcome a three-games-to-none deficit in the Stanley Cup playoffs - the 1942 Toronto Maple Leafs, who accomplished the feat against Detroit in the Finals, and the 1975 New York Islanders in the quarterfinals - against the Penguins.

Renney said the biggest key for his team in Game Four is to stay calm.

"We cannot panic," he said. "We can't allow Pittsburgh to come into our building and think they have (the series) wrapped up."