Heather Wampler-OVathletics.com
The Penguins met with the New York Rangers on Thursday night. Penguins’ general manager Ray Shero moved fast to acquire defenseman Jordan Leopold from the Florida Panthers on Monday. I was rather sad when I heard they had traded defenseman Marty Skoula (not surprised though) and possible forward Luca Caputi to the Toronto Maple Leafs just minutes after the win against the Sabres for left winger Alexei Ponikarovsky. Winger Billy Guerin was a late game scratch for the Pens, Ponikarovsky didn’t start during Thursday’s game and defenseman Eric Godard is still out on injury.
The Rangers wasted no time getting the game started. Rangers center Artem Anisimov has been having scoring trouble the past few months but he managed to beat out Penguins’ goaltender Marc –Andre Fleury at 2:17 getting the scoring started. Sean Avery and Wade Redden assisted. 4:10 brings about a bit of chaos as three penalties are dealt out. Penguins’ captain Sidney Crosby was able to draw a penalty on Marc Staal, who is sent for interference. Lundqvist says something that upset Crosby who then cross-checked the goalie which results in Rangers center Brandon Dubinsky getting a roughing penalty for going at Crosby. Even though Sid was in the box the Pens got the power play. That wasn’t the end of the penalties though. A mere 1:13 later Rangers defenseman Michal Rozsival is sitting in the box with Marc Staal and Dubinsky for slashing Penguins’ center Jordan, the younger Staal brother . This gave the Pens a 47 second two man advantage which they took full advantage of. 6:03, with only seven seconds left on two of the penalties Penguins’ defenseman Sergei Gonachar’s shot goes off the pad of Henrik Lundqvist, luckily left winger Chris Kunitz is right there and able to wrist the rebound in the open net. Alex Goligoski received the second assist. Staal flew at the net and it paid off as he shot a backhander off of Lundqvist’s blocker. Left winger Matt Cooke was driving in making Rangers center Brian Boyle stay at his heels. The rebound went in off Boyle’s body. Staal was awarded the goal at 9:58 with no assists. Rangers left winger Brandon Prust tried getting Cooke to fight at the faceoff with an elbow to the face. Cooke of course responded with a whack of his stick. Both players received unsportsmanlike conducts. Penguins’ defenseman Brooks Orpik gives the Rangers their first power play of the night when he’s sent to the sin bin for interference at 13:23. I must admit that the Rangers goal was kind of impressive. Rangers center Chris Drury put a backhander in while on his knees tying up the score at two. Michael Del Zotto and Olli Jokinen assisted. Penguins’ center Evgeni Malkin and Rangers right winger Ryan Callahan get into it after the final buzzer. Malkin is given a roughing penalty while Callahan is given a slashing. The Pens outshot the Rangers 15-8.
Once again the Rangers get the period started early. Rozsival was able to get a wrist shot off and over Fleury’s glove to take the lead at 2:03. Vinny Prospal and Olli Jokinen received the assists. 10:59 saw Crosby off to the penalty box for high sticking Rozsival. Ten seconds before Crosby’s goal is up Dubinsky slaps a shot in off Fleury’s back giving the Rangers a 4-2 lead. Right after this play backup goaltender Brent Johnson replaced Fleury, who was less than happy. Luckily the Pens decided to not end the period down by two goals. They get right back into the game at 14:23 when Kunitz makes a long pass to Crosby. Crosby sent the puck to center Mike Rupp who was able to wrist the puck in behind Lundqvist. The Pens outshot the Rangers 17-6.
Penguins’ center Max Talbot and Rangers Avery got the third period started at 8:12 when they were both sent to the penalty box for roughing. Avery showed his class as he mocked Talbot all the way to the box but he wouldn’t drop gloves with him. Such a shame because I would love to see Talbot whoop on him a bit. The Penguins’ finally get the scoring started at 11:59 when defenseman Alex Goligoski misses a pass from Kunitz but manages to stay with the puck and throw it toward the net. The puck bounced off Rangers’ defenseman Marc Staal’s skate and gets in past Lundqvist. Kunitz and Ruslan Fedotenko were awarded the assists. The Pens had to bring out their penalty killers at 12:28 when Matt Cooke was sent to the sin bin for tripping. The Pens outshot the Rangers 19-1.
Now it’s time for OT. 1:14 into it Rangers defenseman Wade Redden was sent to the box for hooking giving the Pens a power play. Even though they had multiple chances, Lundqvist made some amazing saves. That is until there was only three seconds left on the penalty. He just couldn’t hold off the barrage of shots any longer. At 3:42 Malkin was able to slap a one-timer in past Lundqvist glove for the win. The Pens outshot the Rangers 4-0.
The Pens now stand at 37-22-1. As far as the Eastern Atlantic Division is concerned they have moved from the top slot back to second with 78 points while the New Jersey Devils have 79. The Philadelphia Flyers remain at third with 69 points followed by the Rangers with 65. The Washington Capitals are top of the Eastern Atlantic Conference with 94 point’s, the Devils are second with 79 points followed by the Ottawa Senators with 76 points. The Pens are fourth with 78 points and the Buffalo Sabres trail at fifth with 75. Sid continues to hold third spot for point’s leader with 79 points while Alex Ovechikin is at the top with 90. Henrik Sedin is second with 83. Nicklas Backstrom is on Crosby’s heels with 77 points followed by Joe Thornton.
The Penguins take on the Dallas Stars Saturday, March 5 @ 1 p.m @ the Mellon Arena.
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