March 5, 2010, Pittsburgh Penguins-New York Rangers game story for Metro NYC Newspaper
Updated 07:48, March the 5th, 2010
Malkin’s OT goal spoils Lundqvist’s career night
Three things we saw last night
Penguins 5, Rangers 4 (OT)
Three things we saw Thursday night at MSG:
1 Outshot — John Tortorella espouses that “safe is death.” The coach may be right — at least on Thursday night. The Rangers became uber conservative in the third period, as Pittsburgh outshot them, 19-1. Defenseman Alex Goligoski’s seventh goal of the season tied the game at 4. Evgeni Malkin’s power-play bomb in OT won it.
2 Sensational in a loss — Henrik Lundqvist played at an all-world level, making a career-high 50 saves. Lundqvist was never better than he was in the third, as he was superb technically and acrobatically. Most of the goals allowed came on deflections and misdirections.
3 Got your back — It may not be much of a consolation, but the Rangers are forming, dare we say, a bond. Brandon Dubinsky dashed toward Sidney Crosby after The Kid cross-checked Henrik Lundqvist in the first period.
The question was simple.
Henrik Lundqvist had made 50 saves. Yet he allowed five goals and his team did not earn a desperately needed two points. Could the goaltender take personal satisfaction in his accomplishment?
“I don’t know. I felt good. I just…It doesn’t feel good to let in five goals. I’m happy we got a point, at least,” Lundqvist said after the Rangers’ 5-4 overtime loss to Pittsburgh Thursday night at Madison Square Garden. Last night’s match was the last regular season meeting between the Atlantic Division rivals. The Rangers lost the series 1-4-1.
The Rangers had won three-in-a-row and four-out-of-five prior to last night’s loss. Coupled with Boston’s 3-2 shootout win over Toronto, the 29-27-8 Rangers are tenth in the Eastern Conference, tied with Atlanta and Montreal with 66 points. The Rangers will travel to Washington DC for a Saturday night date with the Alex Ovechkin and the NHL-leading Capitals, and then come home for a Sunday night match against U.S. Men’s Olympic Hockey Team goaltender Ryan Miller and the Buffalo Sabres.
This loss will sting for awhile. The Rangers held a 4-3 lead after 40 minutes against the reigning Stanley Cup Champions. But Pittsburgh leveled 23 shots at Lundqvist in the third period and overtime. The Rangers took but one, an Olli Jokinen wrister.
Alex Goligoski’s no-angle shot tied the game at four with 8:01 left. Jordan Staal’s second goal of the game, a tip of an Evgeni Malkin power play slapper with 1:18 left in OT was the game winner. Overall, Pittsburgh outshot the Rangers 55-16.
“They played a pretty good period (and) we didn’t have much of an answer for them,” said Brandon Dubinsky. “Points are big. You never know which one is going to make a difference. (We’ll) win most games that we score four goals. So we just got to stick with it and tighten up in our zone.”
Ranger-killer Sidney Crosby was booed every time he touched the puck last night. That may have to do with the fact that he had torched the Rangers for 20 goals and 28 assists in 33 career games and was plus-11. Crosby finished with an assist and was plus-two in 24:30 last night. He also earned Lundqvist’s ire, who believed that Crosby dove behind his cage in the first. Crosby retaliated with a cross-check, which set off a scrum behind the net.
“He went up with his arms. I told him to stand up,” Lundqvist said. “I’ve seen it a bunch of times.” Later in the match, Crosby clipped Lundqvist with his stick.
The Rangers found themselves tied at two with the Pens at the end of the first period, despite being outshot 15-8 in the first period. Rookie center Artem Anisimov (10th) and Captain Chris Drury (11th) scored for the Rangers. Anisimov snapped a quick shot from the left faceoff circle 2:17 in. Chris Kunitz ripped a power play high stick side into a half-empty net to tie the game at one. Staal scored an unassisted goal that deflected off a backchecking Brian Boyle. Drury tied the game at two with a power play score in which he was tied up with Penguins’ starting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury and defenseman Jay McKee in the crease.
Michael Rozsival broke the two-all tie with a beautiful top-shelf goal 2:03 into second period. The goal was the second of the season for the veteran defenseman. His first came in an 8-3 loss in Pittsburgh on November 28th. Dubinsky’s power play drive 10:46 later doubled the Rangers’ lead to 4-2. Dubinsky’s goal was his 15th of the season, a career high for goals. That was the high-water mark for the Rangers as Pittsburgh’s grind-line forward Mike Rupp cut the lead to 4-3 with 5:37 left in the second.
Fleury was pulled for Brent Johnson after Dubinsky’s goal. Fleury had yielded four goals on 12 shots. Johnson stopped four shots—three in the second and one in the third—to earn his ninth win of the season.
NOTES:
Marian Gaborik and Aaron Voros were scratched. Voros had been placed, and then cleared, waivers prior to the trade deadline. Gaborik suffered a cut knee from Henrik Lundqvist’s skate prior to the Vancouver Olympics. The Rangers’ right wing then suffered a euphemistic “lower body injury” while skating for his native Slovakia during The Games.
Tortorella did not speculate when Gaborik would return.
“Not playing,” said Tortorella in his pre-game press conference. “As I told you (Wednesday), Rammer (Head Trainer Jim Ramsay) is going to tell me when he’s going to play. He’s not playing (last night).”
*
While many do not see the benefit in the NHL having shut itself down for the Olympics, Tortorella noted that his non-Olympians appeared to have refreshed key components for the final 18 games of the regular season.
“For some guys, the rest really helped. I watched (rookie defenseman Matt) Gilroy’s game (in Ottawa Tuesday night). I thought it was one of his better games he played for us. Marc Staal was run down for us before the break. I think it’s going to help him. Against Ottawa, I thought we were really smart on the ice, in getting pucks behind the ‘D,’ not trying to do too much. I thought we were really good in a lot of areas. And maybe that was the break (helping) mentally and refreshed,” Tortorella said before the game.
“The break was good. We were playing pretty well when we broke. We came back and played a good game (beating Ottawa at the Scotiabank Place, 4-1, Tuesday night). It’s about trying to be consistent and taking it one day at a time.”
*
Prized rookie defenseman Michael Del Zotto returned to the lineup after suffering a 50-stitch gash to his midsection on February 12 against, symmetrically, the Penguins. Del Zotto notched an assist on Drury’s first period goal and finished even in 18:56.
“I felt really good tonight. We did not want to rush (back),” said Del Zotto. “Every day it was getting better and better. Today was the day I was cleared and I was just happy to be back.
“Yeah, it’s pretty ironic to come back against the team I got hurt against. No better way to come back (than against) the team it happened (against),” Del Zotto said with a laugh.
*
During a stoppage in play during the first period, still photos of Rangers and Penguins Olympians were shown on the video screen. All received a nice ovation from the crowd, save for Crosby, who was vehemently booed.
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http://www.metro.us/us/article/2010/03/05/05/0427-82/index.xml
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| DENIS GORMAN
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posted by Denis P. Gorman at 9:24 AM
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