NHL Playoff Schedule 2016: TV, Live Stream Coverage Guide for Saturday's Games

An all-points bulletin has been put out for the New York Rangers.

While there were individuals who were wearing Rangers uniforms Thursday night at Madison Square Garden, they could not have been the real Rangers. Those ghosts got blitzed 5-0 by the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Rangers were clearly no-shows in that game. The Pens got out to a 2-0 lead early in the first period and then extended that margin to 3-0 before the end of the period when rookie Conor Sheary blocked a shot and went in on a breakaway and ripped the puck by goalie Henrik Lundqvist.

Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault pulled the veteran netminder early in the second period after Evgeni Malkin made it 4-0 because he wanted to save Lundqvist from suffering any more damage. 

The Rangers are down 3-1 in the series, and a loss Saturday afternoon at the Consol Energy Center in Pittsburgh will end their season. If the ghosts who wore the Rangers uniforms in Game 4 show up in Pittsburgh, the series will come to an end. However, if the real Rangers take on the Penguins, they should be able to compete with the Pens.

Matchup	Series standings	Time (ET)	TV
New York Rangers at Pittsburgh	Pittsburgh, 3-1	3 p.m.	NBC, TVAS, SN360
Nashville at Anaheim	2-2	6 p.m.	NBCSN, TVAS, SN, PRIME, FS-TN
St. Louis at Chicago	St. Louis, 3-1	8 p.m.	NBC, CBC, TVAS2

The playoff games can be live streamed on NHL.TV.

Pittsburgh was the hottest team in the league down the stretch, as the Penguins won 14 of their final 16 regular-season games, and they have continued their impressive play during the first round of the playoffs.

The Penguins built a 3-1 advantage over the Rangers two years ago, but New York managed to come back and win the series. The Rangers faced the same deficit last year against the Washington Capitals and registered another comeback.

However, the Blueshirts have shown little to this point. It will take a significantly better effort against Sidney Crosby, Patric Hornqvist and Phil Kessel to get back into this series.

"You can't think that because you've done it in the past, you're necessarily going to do it, but you can believe a little bit," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault told Dan Rosen of NHL.com. "We've been there. We've been in those situations."

The Rangers have to figure out a way to solve goalie Matt Murray, who has done an outstanding job filling in for the injured Marc-Andre Fleury. Murray was in goal for the shutout in Game 4 and has given up just one goal in two games.

The Penguins have also stood out on special teams, as they have connected on seven of 19 power-play opportunities and have shut down the Rangers on 15 of 16 power plays.

Jeff Roberson/Associated Press

The Rangers are not the only team facing an elimination game on Saturday. So are the Chicago Blackhawks, who survived a double-overtime game Thursday night when Patrick Kane tucked in a backhander to beat the St. Louis Blues.

If the Blues had won that game, they would have closed out the defending Stanley Cup champions in five games. While the Blues certainly would have liked to have finished the playoff series at home, they can't feel too bad about returning to the United Center. They won the two earlier games in the series in Chicago and also won a late-season game there.

Kane believes the Blackhawks need to change their approach to regain their home-ice swagger. 

"Play a simpler game," he told Brian Hedger of NHL.com. "Try not to put on a show and make sure that, yeah, we're taking advantage of the crowd and taking advantage of home ice but not giving them any momentum, especially to start the game."

The Blues have been led by Vladimir Tarasenko, who has scored three goals in the series after scoring 40 during the regular season. Defenseman Alex Pietrangelo has contributed five assists, and goalie Brian Elliott has also been sharp with a 2.00 goals-against average. 

The Blues have done a good job of scoring in the third period in this series. They scored two goals in that period in Games 3, 4 and 5, which allowed them to pick up two victories and extend the third game into overtime.

Look for another tight game in this series, and don't be surprised if the Blues extend their road mastery of the Blackhawks and close out the series.