FINAL SCORE: New York Rangers: 4 Pittsburgh Penguins (3)
FIRST PERIOD: The New York Rangers needed to come out and have a fast start to the game so they could attempt to control the pace against the Pittsburgh Penguins, which is something they usually do against them at Madison Square Garden. They didn’t get it, the play started with the Penguins dominating the first few minutes, and Henrik Lundqvist was tested early on a shot by Nick Spaling. However the play went back and forth and the Rangers got their turn to test Marc-Andre Fleury who also stood tall to the task. However, eventually the penguins got a break and Spaling rocketed a slap shot over Lundqvist’s glove and into the net to give the Penguins a 1-0 lead. With about three minutes left in the period Zach Sill took a double minor high sticking penalty on Kevin Klein and sent the Rangers to the power play, they didn’t score, they barely got set up but they start off the second period with a little over a minute left on it. The Rangers leave the period with a 9-8 shot advantage but down 1-0 on the scoreboard and are also credited with eight, EIGHT giveaways this period compared to ZERO by the Penguins.
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SECOND PERIOD: The Rangers came out into the period and their power play ended with essentially nothing to show for it. However it did lend them some momentum going forward in the period and that momentum turned into a goal by J.T. Miller on a beautiful pass from Martin St. Louis which got the team and the crowd at Madison Square Garden a little bit of energy. That energy led again a flip pass by Mats Zuccarello which gave Rick Nash a break into the Pittsburgh zone where he took a shot and then got his own rebound to give the Rangers a one goal lead. Kevin Hayes smothered the puck with his hand two minutes later and the Rangers managed to kill off the penalty, on penalties Pittsburgh took two more of them and Rangers just looked miserable on both power plays as they went 0/4 on the night. The period ended and the Rangers took a 2-1 lead into intermission with a 20-19 shot advantage going to Pittsburgh.
THIRD PERIOD: The Rangers came into this period with a little bit of momentum coming off of the success in the second period, and after quite a bit of pushing by the home and away team, a goal came in the form of Kevin Hayes who broke into the Penguins zone and just like Nash’s goal earlier put the puck in on his own rebound and you could kind of get the sense that maybe the game was over since there was only seven minutes left in the period. However, Evgeni Malkin and Steve Downie scored two quick goals to tie the game up and stun 18,200 people at Madison Square Garden. The period came to an end and an unhappy Rangers squad went into overtime.
OVERTIME: Overtime was pretty even, with both sides getting chances to end the game. One thing that stood out in overtime was that Nash did not make it onto the ice after his first shift which may be concerning. However, with a little over a minute left in OT Kevin Klein came to the rescue and ripped a slapshot into the net to end the game an earn the second point for the Rangers.
THREE STARS:
1) Rick Nash
2) Kevin Klein
3) Evgeni Malkin