For the third straight game, the New York Rangers scored the opening goal, as they quieted a boisterous Consol Energy Crowd by taking an early lead and taking the life out of the building with a slow, defending style that lead to few scoring chances for either side and a 2-1 victory for the visiting Rangers.
The start of the game was especially slow-going. Neither team had a shot on goal in the first five minutes of the game.
A pair of Penguins miscues – an Evgeni Malkin turnover while exiting the neutral zone and then a poor line change – provided the Rangers with two brief flurries of offense.
Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury stood tall through the first, but at 8:43, Carl Hagelin took a long outlet pass from Keith Yandle and split the Penguins’ still-changing defensemen to come alone on a breakaway. Fleury got a piece of his slap shot, but not enough of it, as it caromed into the net to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
The Penguins didn’t earn their first shot on goal until the 15:10 mark of the first period, when Ben Lovejoy took a 70-footer from the neutral zone that was more of a dump in than an actual shot on goal. They finished the first period with just three shots on goal.
In the second period, the Penguins were again shut down offensively, landing just eight shots on goal. At the other end of the ice, Fleury was tested more often.
Just after the Penguins killed a Paul Martin minor penalty, Marc Staal fired a slap shot that missed the Penguins goal wide to the left. It caromed off the end boards right to Rangers forward Chris Kreider, who batted it out of the air and into the net to give New York a commanding 2-0 lead.
In the third, the Penguins finally found some offensive, outshooting the Rangers XX-XX but whenever they could find their way through the Rangers defense, Henrik Lundqvist was more than capable of holding the Penguins off the board.
He kept the shutout going until 13:12 of the third period. Patric Hornqvist broke the ice by wristing home a loose puck with a mad scramble of players in Hornqvist’s crease. Sidney Crosby and Ian Cole assisted on the play.
Lunqvist finished the game with 25 saves. The Penguins’ strong run in the third period tightened the total shots, which finished 26-24 in favor of New York.
With the win, the Rangers re-gain the home ice advantage in the series. Game 4 will be back on Consol Energy Center ice on Wednesday evening.
Photo credit: NHLI
