Rangers rally in second to beat Pens

The Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers met in New York City to play the first of six encounters between the two sides this year. Sidney Crosby came into the game with nine points in just four games on return, so shutting him out of the game was going to crucial for the Rangers at the newly renovated Madison Square Garden.

New York won the opening face-off and with just 15 seconds in there was the first fight of the game between Sean Avery and Tyler Kennedy who both received two minutes for roughing. This lead to some very entertaining four on four hockey, with Marian Gaborik going close for the Rangers and Deryk Engellend rattling the crossbar behind Henrik Lundqvist. After Avery and Kennedy had served their two minute minors they stepped back on the ice and went straight back to fighting, this time getting five minutes each to top off a very entertaining first five minutes of the game.

With just over 11 minutes to play, the very dangerous powerplay unit of the Pens stepped on to the ice, consisting of Neal, Crosby and Malkin after Gaborik was given a two-minute interference minor. James Neal, who was traded from Dallas, went close on the powerplay but the big swede Lundqvist stayed strong in the Rangers net.

Sean Avery continued to look for fights throughout the opening period but it was Brandon Purst who gave the Pens their second powerplay of with two minutes for hooking. The Pens created good pressure on the powerplay but didn’t score, however they kept their momentum going into the final five minutes of the first.

The impressive Henrik Lundqvist was given a two minute minor for roughing in his goal mouth and surely the Pens couldn’t miss out of three powerplay opportunities in the first? No, they couldn’t, as a lovely backhand pass from Sidney Crosby set up James Neal who rifled his 101st shot of the season past the right pad on the Swedish goalie. This brought an end to the period with the Pens perhaps deservedly leading one goal to nil.

Pittsburgh came out of the blocks very quickly to start the second as Crosby had three chances to score within the first minute and it was a Pens offside call that gave the Rangers a much needed breather. However, the Rangers had a chance to tie the game up as they went on the powerplay, although it has struggled in recent games. It was with eight minutes gone and on the powerplay that some slick passing provided Ryan Callahan with an open net to slot the puck past Marc-Andre Fluery, with the assists coming from Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards.

The fast and physical game brought a few quiet minutes at the mid-way stage of the second but with just over five minutes to play the Rangers ended it by netting their second. Carl Hagelin put a lovely pass behind his legs to find Candian center John Mitchell who wristed one over Fluery’s glove to give the Rangers a one goal lead and the 18,200 sell-out crowd started to get loud.

Just over a minute later the Rangers supported were treated to another goal as the very impressive Brad Richards rifled a wrist shot past Fluery after receiving a pass from Fedotenko who battled to win the puck on the boards before finding Richards.

The Pens thought they had a goal back with two minutes to go in the second but it was ruled out due to a high stick from Matt Cooke. This was a crucial moment in the game as the Rangers went down the other end and grabbed their fourth of the period as some great puck movement on yet another powerplay allowed the very impressive Gaborik to jam it in at the back post with Del Zotto and Richards getting the assists.

Going into the locker rooms three goals down wouldn’t have been good for Pittsburgh and with six seconds left they ensured they went in just two goals down as Neals shot was saved by Lundqvist but the rebound was put away by Malkin. An awesome period with a great ending finished with the Rangers leading four goals to two.

A physical start to the final period gave Pens a crucial early goal to cut the lead to one as Dupuis put a lovely backhand upstairs, with Crosby and Engellend grabbing the assists. There was a great intensity throughout the third period and with eight minutes to go the Pens thought they had tied the game up but Jordan Stall could only find iron.

New York had a great chance to shut the game out with around a minute and a half of five on three hockey in their favour but they couldn’t get the puck in the net. This brought a very tense final two minutes as Fluery left his net with a minute to play and the Pens applied huge pressure to the Rangers goal in a quest for an equaliser. The Rangers were to hold out though and the final buzzer sounded to end a very good game of hockey.

Pittsburgh Penguins 3-4 New York Rangers

Scorers:

Pittsburgh – James Neal, Evgeni Malkin and Pascal Dupuis
New York – Ryan Callahan, John Mitchell, Brad Richards and Marian Gaborik

Three Stars – 1st Marian Gaborik – 2nd Brad Richards – 3rd Evgeni Malkin