Pittsburgh, PA (SportsNetwork.com) – Brandon Sutter scored in the fourth round
of the shootout to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a measure of revenge against
the New York Rangers with a 3-2 victory.
The win was Pittsburgh’s ninth in 10 games, with the only blemish over that
stretch coming Tuesday at Madison Square to a Rangers team that also ended the
Penguins’ 2013-14 season in seven games during the Eastern Conference
semifinals.
Evgeni Malkin contributed a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh and Blake Comeau
also tallied in the triumph, with Marc-Andre Fleury coming up with 29 saves in
a sharper effort than Tuesday’s 5-0 loss in New York.
Henrik Lundqvist made 36 saves, including stops of Sidney Crosby and Kris
Letang on breakaways in overtime, for the Rangers. Lee Stempniak and Martin
St. Louis each had goals in the loss, New York’s fourth in its last five
outings.
After the rivals battled to a scoreless third period and an overtime session
highlighted by Lundqvist’s two game-saving denials, Derek Stepan was
successful on the Rangers’ first shootout try and Crosby countered for
Pittsburgh in the second round.
New York then appeared to have the game won when Dan Boyle slid a shot past
Fleury in the third round, but the goal was disallowed when replays showed his
attempt hit the post before striking his stick for a double-hit.
Sutter capitalized by rifling the puck through Lundqvist’s pads to start the
fourth round, and Fleury turned aside Rick Nash with his left arm to give the
Penguins the two points.
A wide-open first period saw the teams trade goals within a 15-second span.
Comeau briefly put Pittsburgh ahead by sneaking a wrister under Lundqvist’s
arm on a 3-on-2 rush with 5:48 remaining in the frame, but the Rangers quickly
answered when Stempniak backhanded in the carom of Dan Girardi’s long drive
after the Penguins couldn’t clear the puck from the New York zone.
Just under two minutes after Stempniak’s score, Fleury stopped Nash from in
close on a Rangers’ power play. However, Derick Brassard corraled the rebound
and sent the puck to St. Louis, who roofed home the pass for a 2-1 New York
lead.
The Penguins put together a stronger second period, outshooting the Rangers by
a 15-6 count and drawing even when Nick Spaling intercepted Boyle’s pass and
fed Malkin for a quick shot that beat Lundqvist to the glove side 8:09 into
the session.
New York was awarded a 4-on-3 power play with 1:42 left in overtime when
Penguins defenseman Rob Scuderi took down Chris Kreider from behind on a
partial breakaway.
The Rangers failed to convert the opportunity, but still managed to force the
shootout when Lundqvist stoned Letang with the blueliner fresh out of the
penalty box with 4.8 seconds to go.
Game Notes
Girardi briefly left the game in the third period after receiving a hard hit
from Malkin, but returned to the ice near the end of regulation … Crosby has
now been held without a point in five straight meetings with New York that
include last season’s playoff series … Pittsburgh had gone 20-for-20 on the
penalty kill over its previous five home games … Nash skated in his 800th
career NHL game.
