NEW YORK -- The Penguins don't care for a lot of things New York Rangers forward Sean Avery does on the ice. Some seem to dislike him on a personal level, too.

Nonetheless, when word began to circulate yesterday that Avery had been hospitalized -- initial reports that he had, among other things, gone into cardiac arrest eventually gave way to news that his problem was a lacerated spleen -- the Penguins responded by wishing him nothing but a quick and complete recovery.

"You don't wish that stuff on anybody," left winger Gary Roberts said. "We play the game, everybody does what they think they have to to help their team win, but, when the game's over, life's more important."

Avery, whose injury apparently stems from a collision in the Penguins' 5-3 win in Game 3 of their second-round playoff series against the Rangers at Madison Square Garden Tuesday, was rushed to St. Vincent's Medical Center in Manhattan a few hours after the game.

"I don't care how much of a pest he is on the ice," center Max Talbot said. "When you look at a situation like that, you think about him as a human being, a colleague, an NHLer. It's definitely not fun, and we wish him the best."

A Penguins victory in Game 4 tonight would make them the first team to win eight consecutive playoff games at any point in the postseason since Tampa Bay during its Stanley Cup run in 2004.

It also would carry the Penguins to within one victory of matching the best playoff start in NHL history; Edmonton won nine in a row to start its march to a championship in 1985.

The other teams to win their first eight playoff games since the league went to its "Original Six" configuration were the 1952 Detroit Red Wings, the 1960 Montreal Canadiens and the 1969 St. Louis Blues.

The Penguins, though, don't seem to be caught up in the numbers they've generated or how they compare to what other teams did in previous seasons.

"I don't think you ever look at the wins," left winger Ryan Malone said. "You want to make sure you're playing hard and playing the system you want to play.

"We want to dictate the pace. Everyone's buying into the system and playing the right way. When you do that, we like our chances."

It's unlikely the Rangers feel that way about their own, since only two teams in NHL history have rallied from a 3-0 deficit to win a best-of-seven. Still, New York doesn't seem ready to concede the Penguins a spot in the Eastern Conference final.

"We believe we can do it," Rangers center Scott Gomez said. "Give them credit. They have gotten all the bounces and breaks, but they also deserve it. We have one more home game. Take care of that, and you never know."

New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist is a Vezina Trophy finalist for the third consecutive year and, before this series started, Marc-Andre Fleury of the Penguins acknowledged that he was looking forward to being pitted against him.

"He's one of the best goalies in the league," Fleury said. "It's cool to have a chance to match up with him."

Perhaps, but Fleury has outplayed Lundqvist -- and every other goalie -- to this point of the playoff and is 15-1-1 in his past 17 decisions overall.

"He's confident, he's got the right frame of mind," center Sidney Crosby said. "Any goalie will tell you that's a big thing, especially in the playoffs. He's done an amazing job."

Although it went largely overlooked at the time, Penguins coach Michel Therrien made a critical move in the second period of Game 3, using his timeout to restore his team's equilibrium after Jaromir Jagr of New York tied the score, 3-3.

"We needed a timeout because things were not going well," Therrien said. "We had totally lost momentum in the game -- we were on our heels -- and any team that's playing on its heels isn't going to have success.

"I just wanted to make sure we got back to basics, got back our concentration, let the guys know we weren't playing the right way, and that we wouldn't be successful. Just to make sure the guys were back on track. And we responded well."