Penguins Put Panthers on the Edge

Mario Lemieux and Jaromir Jagr can’t score. Ken Wregget, the early-round star, is stuck on the bench. And the Pittsburgh Penguins are one victory from the Stanley Cup finals.

The Penguins aren’t running and gunning, so they switched into a defensive mode to beat the Florida Panthers at their own game, 3-0, Tuesday night to take a 3-2 lead in the Eastern Conference finals.

Lemieux and Jagr were held without a goal for the fourth time in five games, but each set up scores as Pittsburgh moved closer to its third Stanley Cup finals in six seasons.

“It’s good to know that we can play wide open if we have to, and it’s good to know that when it’s time to shut it down against a team like the Florida Panthers, we can do it,” defenseman J.J. Daigneault said.

The Panthers, who led the series 1-0 and 2-1, must win Game 6 Thursday night in Miami to force a Game 7 Saturday in Pittsburgh.

“Game 6 is an enormous game, a huge game, and we’ll have to have a huge effort,” Panther center Stu Barnes said. “But they’re playing real well right now, and that’s making it difficult on us.”

But just as they did against the Capitals and Rangers, the Penguins are getting better the later it gets in a series. They have won the last two games and are 7-0 in these playoffs in Games 4-6.

“It’s real important to win Game 6, because you never want it to get to a Game 7,” Lemieux said. “For us, playing Game 6 will be like playing a Game 7.”

And the Panthers, the rats-to-riches team that hoped to reach the Stanley Cup finals in only its third season, now face the pressure of elimination for the first time.

“I think we will respond just fine,” Coach Doug MacLean said. “I think we will come up with a great effort in Florida. It wouldn’t surprise me if we play our best game of the series.”

But for the first time in the series, Pittsburgh dominated a game from start to finish as Daigneault, Petr Nedved and Tomas Sandstrom scored and Tom Barrasso, benched earlier in the playoffs, again was reminiscent of the goaltender who dominated the 1991 and 1992 Stanley Cup finals. The shutout was the fifth of his playoff career, all with Pittsburgh, and his first since he beat the New York Islanders, 3-0, on May 4, 1993.

The Panthers have scored only once on 61 shots in two games since Game 3, with Barrasso turning aside all 28 shots Tuesday night.

“Tommy is very focused right now,” Lemieux said. “He’s making all the key saves. He always seems to play great in the big games.”

The Penguins have wrestled not only the lead but the momentum away from the Panthers, who managed only a split in the first four games despite dictating the flow with their tight forechecking and shadowing of Lemieux and Jagr.

They were their persistent best again as goaltender John Vanbiesbrouck made a succession of big saves on breakaways and excellent scoring chances, but the Panthers’ offense let them down this time.

“You know they’re going to score . . . and you know what’s going to happen if you don’t score,” Vanbiesbrouck said. “But I’m real positive we have the character to bounce back.”

Pittsburgh tried to set the tone early as Jagr, banged and bruised by two huge hits in Pittsburgh’s come-from-behind 2-1 win in Game 3, came out hitting and drew a high-sticking penalty only 1:06 into the game.

But Florida’s power-play unit, scoreless in 17 of its last 18 attempts, couldn’t score, and Daigneault gave Pittsburgh the critical early lead with a power-play goal at 8:48 of the first period.

“We play a lot better with the lead, especially against a good defensive team like the Panthers,” Lemieux said.

With Dave Lowry off for a holding-the-stick penalty, Lemieux whipped a shot from the left circle that Daigneault swatted between Vanbiesbrouck’s legs for his first goal.

The Penguins made it a 2-0 lead at 18:27 as Jagr, who had been on the ice for 2 1/2 minutes, accelerated past several fresh Panthers and passed to Nedved, who wristed a shot between Vanbiesbrouck’s legs as the goaltender tried frantically to close his pads.

Sandstrom added an empty-net goal at 18:42 of the third.