Penguins brace for Garden

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The Pittsburgh Penguins have won two games in a row against one of the NHL's finest teams.They've gotten six pucks behind one of the world's top goaltenders, and limited a volatile power play to one goal in nine opportunities.And that was the easy part.When their second-round playoff series against the New York Rangers shifts to Madison Square Garden for Game 3 Tuesday night, the Penguins will be forced to try to win in an arena where they lost on all four visits -- three times in regulation -- during the regular season."We've really struggled in Madison Square Garden, for whatever reason," Penguins defenseman Brooks Orpik said. "Probably three of our worst games all year, we played in that building."The pressure to win one of the next two games would have been considerably greater if the Penguins hadn't taken the first two at Mellon Arena, including a 2-0 victory in Game 2 Sunday.Even the worst-case scenario for them at this point isn't all that bad: Should they lose the two games in New York, the series would be reduced to a best-of-three, with two of those games at Mellon Arena. The Penguins have won 12 consecutive games there, beginning with a 3-2 shootout victory against Atlanta March 2.That's dramatically different from how they fared at the Garden during this past regular season. The Rangers beat them 4-2 Nov. 8, 4-0 Dec. 18, 5-2 March 18 and 2-1 in overtime March 31."For whatever reason, we don't play that well there," left winger Ryan Malone said. "I really can't put a finger on (why)."Orpik labeled Madison Square Garden his favorite road arena -- "It's always a good atmosphere," he said. "The crowd's always good" -- and while Malone didn't share that sentiment, he acknowledged the Rangers tend to ratchet up their performance level there."Those guys maybe play harder at home than on the road, but that just comes with the fans getting you going," he said. "Every team is tougher in their building."(Distributed by Scripps Howard News Service, www.scrippsnews.com.)