By Joe Starkey 

Nobody's safe when Penguins defenseman Darius Kasparaitis hits the ice. 

On Friday against the New York Rangers, Kasparaitis crushed longtime acquaintance Valeri Kamensky of the New York Rangers. 

Kamensky, who played with Kasparaitis on the 1998 Russian Olympic team, nearly snapped into two pieces when Kasparaitis hip-checked him in the third period. 

Kamensky delivered a drop pass and wasn't looking when Kasparaitis sent him tumbling head over heels. Kamensky got up, chased down Kasparaitis and jumped on his back, drawing a two-minute roughing call. 

"He was kind of upset because I hit him kind of low," Kasparaitis said. "I hip-checked him. I hadn't used my hip check for a long time, and that's one of the reasons I don't use it, because guys get upset. But it's still an art. He got frustrated. I think he should have got four minutes, instead of two." 

Kasparaitis had a game-high six hits, including several bone-rattlers. He sent forward Radek Dvorak tumbling to the ice like a rag doll in the second period. 

"I'll take any games like that," Kasparaitis said. "They make your game look good and make the fans go crazy." 

Those games are more likely to occur against free-skating teams. 

"I notice each time we play West Coast teams and the Rangers, the games are wide open," Kasparaitis said. "Guys try to beat you one-on-one and aren't afraid to do anything. I think that opens my game up a lot and lets me finish my checks. 

"I think playing teams like Ottawa and all those guys, they dump the puck in a lot, and they play with a system, and it's hard for me to do anything."