The lone NHL playoff game slated to take place on Wednesday night will be one that involves a certain player that is sure to finally break out in a very big way, taking matters of the series into his own hands. The Pittsburgh Penguins are looking to put a three-games-to-one strangle hold on the series while the New York Rangers try desperately to get back to even at two games a piece.  If either team is going to reach their goal for game four, someone is going to have to come up big.

Game three saw the Rangers absolutely dominate the Penguins in shots for the first time in the Eastern Conference semis. Although the Rangers managed to put up a barrage of 35 shots, it was the Penguins’ two goals on their minimal amount of 15 shots that was the difference in the end. With Henrik Lundqvist finally showing that he is at least somewhat vulnerable between the pipes for the Rangers, and Sidney Crosby scoring his first goal in his last 13 playoff games, one has to believe that the momentum has definitely shifted towards the direction of Crosby and the Penguins.

Although Crosby has had his troubles putting the puck in the back of the net in his recent playoff history, he has still served as a very important two-way player for his team. Now that Crosby, arguably the NHL’s best all-around player, has supposedly gotten the monkey off of his back with his game three goal, through the five-hole of a stunned Henrik Lundqvist, expect the crafty forward to take his game to a whole other level in game four.

The worst thing that the Rangers could possibly do in this series was allow Crosby to have a taste of the back of the net for the first time in a long time. All in all, the Rangers have done a great job of containing Crosby, who has only managed to put 10 pucks on net in his first three games against New York and is currently -2 on the series. If Crosby finds a way to put at least 7+ shots on net for the rest of the series, he will undoubtedly lead his Penguins back to the Eastern Conference finals.

With the help of his teammates, especially Evgeni Malkin and Jussi Jokinen, expect Crosby to have a monster game four on the road in New York. In a series where home-ice advantage hasn’t meant a thing thus far, Crosby is poised to suck the life out of Madison Square Garden on Wednesday night. With more shots on net, and a goalie in Lundqvist weary of what he is capable of doing, there’s no reason why Crosby won’t be the game’s number one star. A hot Sidney Crosby should now be every remaining playoff team’s worst nightmare if they are to move forward toward the Stanley Cup finals.