For the remainder of the third period, the Rangers did an excellent job of shutting down the Penguins, with Henrik Lundqvist also doing a fair share of the work as well.
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Pittsburgh’s unsafe attack was bolstered further on Saturday by the return of Evgeni Malkin, who showed flashes of brilliance while bouncing between two forward lines and shifting from centre to wing.
He saw a specialist Thursday.
And, as he has done so often in his career, King Henrik lived up to the challenge – with a little help from his gritty teammates of course. Jeff Zatkoff made 35 saves in a Game 1 win for the Penguins.
The series now moves to Madison Square Garden, where the teams will meet again on Tuesday for Game 3. Olli Maatta’s misplay led to Brassard’s break-in finish for the Rangers’ first lead of the series.
After it looked like the Penguins might easily take this first round series, behind some defensive adjustments and Lundqvist’s return, the Rangers have pulled the series even. And the longer the series goes, the more comfortable the battled tested Rangers should feel against the seemingly always underachieving Penguins.
Of course, when there is a breakdown, the Rangers have the ultimate answer in net with Lundqvist. When you know there’s nothing wrong with the eye, you can just push yourself, and whatever’s feeling uncomfortable you don’t think about it when the game starts. “You definitely don’t want to see that”.
“He’s good to go”, Vigneault said.
Sullivan played Malkin 19:29 in Game 2, a total that is even slightly higher than his average on the season.
“Every save matters”, Lundqvist said. To have guys step up, it’s another opportunity, more minutes and some more responsibility. The Rangers dressed two rookies on defence in Dylan Mcllrath and Brady Skjei, both players faring just fine in the win.
Benn scored his second goal of the playoffs with 9:37 remaining, beating Wild goaltender Devan Dubnyk with a backhand through his five-hole on a breakaway to give the Stars a 2-0 lead. The second period ended with the Pens down 3-1. “There were a couple things we could do better and we did”, he said.
Phil Kessel scored the only goal for Pittsburgh, which was still without No. 1 goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, who is still recovering from a concussion. “There was no doubt that as a group tonight we needed to respond and to play better than we did last game, and I thought we did that”.
Lundqvist changes the story in Pittsburgh; Brassard, Backstrom, Kessel, Holtby and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking. Brassard added two assists for a three-point day. And one horrific nightmare.
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The Pittsburgh Penguins will attempt to take a 2-0 series lead in their conference quarterfinals matchup with the New York Rangers today at 3:00PM ET. “I didn’t really put my shot where I wanted to”, Rust said.
