The Penguins and New York Rangers met for the first time since the latter eliminated them from the Stanley Cup Playoffs last spring on Wednesday night.
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D Ryan McDonagh (concussion) did not make the trip to Pittsburgh. Fleury finished with 19 saves.NOTES: Pittsburgh played its third game in a row without C Evgeni Malkin, who was listed earlier in the week as day-to-day with a lower-body injury but now will miss at least the next two games….
Pittsburgh Penguins Marc-Andre Fleury makes glove save against the New York Rangers during an NHL hockey game, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2016 in Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH (AP) – The New York Rangers are missing their captain and one of their leading scorers. Sullivan lost his first four games, but the Penguins have been one of the NHL’s best since then.
Henrik Lundqvist starred in a building where he always seems to stand tall, and the Rangers got contributions from several unlikely sources. They got a lot of shots on net, but that’s why we have Henrik. “You need guys to step up when they get the opportunity to play more minutes and that’s what we’re having now”.
Lundqvist appeared in the 666th regular season game of his career, tying Mike Richter for most appearances by a Rangers goaltender and for most career appearances by a goaltender with a single team in National Hockey League history.
“There’s no doubt that our goaltending was outstanding”, Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said.
RW Kevin Hayes, center Dominic Moore and right winger Jesper Fast provided the goals for the Rangers, who held onto a 1-0 lead for much of the game.
Incredibly, though, the Rangers have allowed just one even strength goal in their eight-and-a-half periods since McDonagh left last Saturday’s game in Philadelphia during the first period.
Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who didn’t record a shot on goal, failed to extend a career-high, seven-game goal-scoring streak and an 11-game run of 12 goals and 22 points during that span. The Penguins previously won six of seven with points in 16 of their last 20 games.
“We had some good looks”, Crosby said. Kris Letang asked. “We outshot them and outchanced them. That was the difference”.
Fleury was still off balance from making the awkward save on Glass and had trouble getting from his right to his left as Hayes buried the puck into a yawning net to put the Rangers up, 1-0. “It was a great challenge for us”. Nash sat out his seventh consecutive game.
It might be a new season, but the game was very reminiscent of the five games the clubs played in that opening round series. Kevin Hayes grabbed a rebound of Tanner Glass’ shot in front, skated right and fired in his eighth of the season under the leaping screen of Daniel Paille at 8:34.
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For example, rookie Conor Sheary managed to get behind Rangers’ defensemen Dan Boyle and Marc Staal early in the second period.
