Lundqvist made 29 saves, Miller had three primary assists on three second-period goals and Derick Brassard had a goal and two assists as the Rangers evened the series with a chippy 4-2 win at Consol Energy Center despite Evgeni Malkin returning to the Penguins’ lineup.
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After the game, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said Lundqvist would have to practice on Friday in order to play on Saturday – and he did just that, but the goalie is still a game-time decision for Game 2.
Early on, it looked like a repeat of Game One, as Pittsburgh outshot the Rangers 17-8 and led 1-0 on Kessel’s first goal.
Including the postseason, the Penguins are 42-2-1 when they score at least three goals this season.
Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard scored 18 seconds apart in the second period to give the Rangers the lead and Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider piled on later as NY improved to 6-2 since the start of the 2014 playoffs in the game immediately following a loss. The Rangers can not continue giving the Penguins five power plays per game because it is much harder to hold Pittsburgh to under three goals when their man advantage scores.
Lundqvist was struck near the right eye by the blade of teammate Marc Staal’s stick late in the first period of Wednesday’s Game 1 loss, a scary play that had the goaltender writhing in pain.
On Thursday Lundqvist saw an eye specialist, and on Friday, with some swelling and discoloration in and around the eye, he returned to practice.
Whether it’s Lundqvist or Raanta, or both, in goal in Game 2, the Rangers are going to have to change their habits – which might be tough since they’ve had those habits for most of a terribly inconsistent 83 games so far. He said afterward that he knew he didn’t play his best, but that it felt good to get that first taste of playoff hockey under his belt. The Swedish netminder also kicked aside some other quality scoring chances in the final 10 minutes of the third period to preserve the two-goal cushion. The Pittsburgh Penguins were puffing their chests out and controlling play, with Phil Kessel putting three unsafe shots on goal before opening the scoring at the end of a gorgeous three-way passing sequence.
Fleury was replaced in Game 1 by 28-year-old untested third-stringer Jeff Zatkoff. Lundqvist played a great game today, allowing two goals, one of which being a power-play goal. “We expected his “A” game and he expects that out of himself”. Kari Lehtonen (KAH’-ree LEH’-toh-nihn) stopped 25 shots and blanked the Wild until Marco Scandella beat him on a power play with 7:18 left.
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Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan indicated that he’d review his player deployment during their two days off before Game 3 at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
