After getting embarrassed in the first period of Game 1 in Madison Square Garden on Tuesday, the Penguins were determined to get off to a better start in Game 2 on Saturday night.
The Rangers still came out with first period lead, but Penguins captain Sidney Crosby took over, scoring two goals in the second period to lead his squad to a 4-3 victory and evened the series at one game a piece as it heads back to Pittsburgh.
The early going was tight checking, with teams combining for just eight shots over the first 20 minutes. The Penguins were able to hold the Rangers to just three first-period shots, but one of the three beat Marc-Andre Fleury as the Rangers again attacked with speed through the neutral zone and Derek Stepan got in behind Rob Scuderi and put a slap shot off the far post and in behind the Penguins netminder.
Another trend from the first game did carry over, as the Penguins again found themselves in penalty trouble, taking seven minor penalties, all of which led to Rangers power plays.
It was the Penguins power play, however that evened the score at 1-1 at the midway mark of the second period. Brandon Sutter found the rebound of a Chris Kunitz shot in the slot between the faceoff circles and wired it past Henrik Lundqvist. It was the Penguins first power play goal of the series on only their second attempt.
That set the stage for Crosby’s heroics. At 14:07 of the second period, Patric Hornqvist took the puck hard to the Rangers net, got his own rebound and fed it across the slot to a wide-open Crosby who tapped it home for his first goal of the playoffs.
It wouldn’t take long for him to get his second. Just 1:39 later, Paul Martin held the puck in at the offensive blue line and found Chris Kunitz in the left wing faceoff circle. Kunitz lofted a saucer pass rink-wide towards Crosby, who dove to his left and swatted the puck past Lundqvist to give the Penguins their first lead of the series.
Derrick Brassard scored a power-play goal to make it a one-goal game at 3:16 of the third period. It was the Rangers only power play goal of the game, despite earning seven power plays in what was yet another undisciplined effort from Mike Johnston’s squad.
Chris Kunitz scored the Penguins second power-play goal of the night to re-establish a two-goal lead for the visitors. The Penguins finished 2-for-4 on the power play, with both goals coming from the second unit of Kunitz, Sutter and David Perron.
Kunitz finished with a goal and two assists, Sutter had a goal and an assist and Perron had an assist as those three players provided the secondary scoring that the team has been lacking in the second half of the season.
Rick Nash scored his first goal of the postseason on a top-shelf wrist shot with just three seconds remaining, but it was too little, too late for the Rangers as the Penguins earned a split in the Big Apple. The series will now return to Pittsburgh even at one game a piece, and the Penguins now hold home ice advantage, as they will host the next two games and three of the five potential games remaining.
Photo credit: NHLI/Getty Images
