He was back in the Rangers’ net for his 112th straight playoff start on Saturday afternoon, turning aside 29 shots in New York’s 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins, tying the best-of-seven series 1-1.
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But Lundqvist saw an eye specialist on Thursday who determined there was no damage to the eye and Lundqvist was able to practice without restrictions on Friday. NY was able to take advantage of quick plays and pushed heavily into Pittsburgh’s zone to create traffic.
The New York Rangers have grabbed home-ice advantage in their Stanley Cup first-round series after splitting a pair in Pittsburgh. J.T. Miller added three assists and NY handed Pittsburgh just its third loss in its past 18 games.
J.T. Miller added three assists as the Rangers handed Pittsburgh just its third loss since March 6.
The series now moves to Madison Square Garden, where the teams will meet again on Tuesday for Game 3.
Ho hum – King Henrik was back in his steady place, nearly as though nothing had even happened. Malkin set up the two best chances for Pittsburgh in the opening period, one a give-and-go play with defenceman Kris Letang, the other a set-up of winger Patric Hornqvist on a late-period power-play.
“Today I felt pretty good”, said Lundqvist, who had a noticeably swollen eyelid when he met with the media Friday. “I think we slowed them down a lot more”. His 393 regular and postseason victories since the start of the 2006-07 season are second in the league to the 398 of Lundqvist, who played in one period of the opener after teammate Marc Staal’s stick somehow found a gap in his mask and scraped his right eye.
Star Pens forward Evgeni Malkin and depth starter Bryan Rust returned to the lineup, but starting goalie Marc-Andre Fleury (concussion) and backup Matt Murray (upper-body) remained sidelined, and third-stringer Zatkoff crumbled after looking sturdy early. Brady Skjei and Dylan McIlrath performed admirably in their place but it’s still not the same blue line it was in playoffs past. “When I knew there was nothing wrong with the eye, I could push myself”.
A new officiating crew also put away the whistles after Wednesday night’s opener had been full of ticky-tack or flat-out poor calls, but almost to the Rangers’ detriment late.
The third period didn’t get much better as Chris Kreider scored a goal in the early minutes of the period for the Rangers.
Having Lundqvist at the back end to cover up mistakes certainly helps.
NOTES: The Rangers went 0 for 3 on the power play.
J.T. Miller set up all three goals for NY, which evened the best-of-seven series with the Penguins at one with a 4-2 victory.
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A convincing win like this in Pittsburgh could also do wonders for their confidence, most importantly on the defensive end, as NY is capable of creating a stout enough defense, headlined by Lundqvist, to suppress the Penguins enough to pull out wins. Girardi is nursing an undisclosed injury. The Rangers outhit the Penguins 57-25.
