Coming off a brutal 4-1 loss to the New York Islanders at home, their second home loss in as many games, the Penguins stormed back against the New York Rangers to stir up some boos at MSG.
Evgeni Malkin scored his second goal of the season, Simon Despres scored the second goal of his career, and James Neal added his team-leading fifth goal. Behind Tomas Vokoun who stopped all 28 shots, the Penguins defeated the Rangers 3-0, Thursday night.
This was also the best defensive performance of the season for Pittsburgh. As a team, they totaled only six giveaways, a much better effort than the nine turnovers they had in each of their last two contests. The Rangers only had six takeaways, half as many as the Senators or Islanders when they face the Penguins. The Penguins also blocked nine shots and gave New York very few quality chances on Vokoun.
Just as they did nearly two weeks ago, the Penguins scored within the first two minutes to take an early 1-0 lead. Simon Despres wired a perfect pass to Evgeni Malkin whose one timer beat Henrik Lundqvist on the glove side. The goal came 1:24 into the game, 24 seconds earlier than the Penguins’ first goal against the Rangers on January 20th.
Dan Girardi took a roughing penalty just 22 seconds into the second period, giving the Penguins a 4 on 3 power play. The Penguins would register four shots but nothing could get past Lundqvist. Both teams traded chances throughout the period with the Penguins getting the best opportunity when Sidney Crosby’s breakaway snapshot flipped over the cage. Rick Nash shot the puck wide on the Rangers’ power play, Girardi broke up a two on one between Malkin and Dustin Jeffrey, and Lundqvist stopped a two on one between Crosby and Chris Kunitz.
The Penguins may have squandered three power play chances in the second period, but they did not squander their first chance in the third period. After struggling in their own end to start the third, Evgeni Malkin gained the offensive zone and dropped a pass back to Crosby who was standing on the point. Crosby purposely shot the puck wide to James Neal who deflected it over Lundqvist to increase the lead to 2-0.
The Rangers tried to storm back, but only found themselves in more trouble.
Marc Staal’s slap shot rang off the far post and out through the legs of Tomas Vokoun. In the same sequence, Simon Despres took a hooking penalty to give the Rangers more momentum. Anton Stralman’s shot just hit the pad of Vokoun and the Penguins cleared the puck as the penalty was expiring. Pascal Dupuis won a puck battle along the half boards and flipped a pass to Despres who was streaking down the middle of the ice alone. Despres turned Lundqvist inside out before backhanding a the puck past the goaltender’s glove hand for the dagger.
The Penguins killed off the remaining 9:37 of the third period to seal the victory.
- Tomas Vokoun’s shutout was the 49th of his career, ranking fourth all-time among active goalies.
- Per the Pens’ website, Sidney Crosby extended his point streak vs. New York teams to sixteen straight games.
- The Penguins are 4-0 when James Neal scores a goal.
Three Stars
- Tomas Vokoun
- Evgeni Malkin
- Simon Despres
