There appears to be a magic number when it comes to beating the Pittsburgh Penguins, and that special digit is three.
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Antoine Roussel scored from behind the net without the puck touching a stick and Jamie Benn had an unassisted goal and the Dallas Stars beat the Minnesota Wild 2-1 on Saturday night for a 2-0 lead in their Western Conference playoff series.
But that’s the nature of the playoffs, though the Rangers’ 57 hits were the most in one non-overtime playoff game since the National Hockey League began tracking the statistic in 1997-98. 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.
Staal was outstanding in a game-high 25:19 of high stress work, matched for 11:03 at five-on-five against Sidney Crosby and 7:54 against Evgeni Malkin, who returned for his first game since March 11 and skated much of the time on No. 87’s wing.
G Marc-Andre Fleury practiced Friday and there is a chance he could play Saturday in Game 2 on the Penguins first-round series against the Rangers.
A few minutes later, NY was better than that.
Both youngsters played very well, as they combined to finish plus-2.
Rangers’ Derick Brassard (16) celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period of Game 2.
Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard scored 18 seconds apart in the second period to give the Rangers the lead.
Lundqvist was ideal with 26 even-strength saves.
The Sharks gained a 2-0 lead in their best-of-seven first-round series with the Kings, following a gutsy 2-1 victory in L.A. on Saturday.
New York, however, exuded their blue-collar style of play and simply began wearing Pittsburgh down with physical play, slowly tipping momentum in their favor.
“I thought Lundqvist played great”. The Rangers have actually controlled a little bit more of the 5-on-5 play so far in this series, which comes as somewhat of a surprise given that Pittsburgh had more success in that area during the regular season. To make matters worse, Girardi was also out again with an undisclosed injury.
This is a big split for the Rangers, who now have home-ice advantage with the series tied at one game apiece heading back to Madison Square Garden.
Of course, when there is a breakdown, the Rangers have the ultimate answer in net with Lundqvist. He’s been a strong postseason performer for the Blueshirts, and has 20 points (10 G, 10 A) in his last 21 playoff games going back to last season. Even if McIlrath, Skeji or any of the other Rangers defenders slip up at moments in the next couple games, they have tremendous confidence in the fact that Lundqvist is going to bail them out and keep this Penguins team under three goals.
Lundqvist assured the Rangers immediately that his eyesight was more than OK, stopping all 10 of the Pens’ first-period shots, including tough tips off the rush at full speed from Letang and then Hornqvist on the power play.
Just 39 seconds into the third period, Chris Kreider forced a turnover in front of the net, and caught a fortunate bounce after putting a shot on net. Nick Bonino and Trevor Daley made quick passes, the latter to Kessel, who left no doubt with his first playoff goal as a Penguin. The Penguins also have a shorthanded goal.
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Lundqvist changes the story in Pittsburgh; Brassard, Backstrom, Kessel, Holtby and more in Scott Cullen’s Statistically Speaking.
