On the biggest stage, with the hockey world watching, the Pittsburgh Penguins dismantled the best team in the Eastern Conference with their captain making his much anticipated second return of the season.
The Penguins not only defeated the New York Rangers, they won with a complete team effort; a rare sight for one of the most injury-ridden teams over the last two seasons. Stars Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin, James Neal, Jordan Staal, Kris Letang and Chris Kunitz all recorded at least one point, role players Matt Cooke and Pascal Dupuis combined for three goals, and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 29 of 31 shots including some dazzling saves in the final minutes of the game.
Sidney Crosby recorded an assist in his first game since December 5th when he sustained a neck injury and felt concussion-line symptoms. The injury forced Crosby out of the line up but the team rallied to post a 21-4-1 record including nine game winning streak heading into Thursday night’s matchup. The Penguins also got Kris Letang back after a five game absence, battling a concussion of his own.
Centering Matt Cooke and Tyler Kennedy to start the contest, Crosby’s line didn’t take long to make an impact. Just 2:54 into the first period, Cooke scored his 13th goal of the season thanks to a lucky bounce. After his initial shot was blocked, Cooke found the puck and shot it off the stick of Rangers’ forward John Mitchell. The puck bounced straight in the air and went over the shoulder of goaltender Marty Biron who was filling in for Henrik Lundqvist (flu).
Carl Hagelin tied the game at 1-1 thirteen minutes into the first period when he roofed a shot over a sprawling Marc-Andre Fleury.
From there, the Penguins took control.
The last two periods were a statement from the Pittsburgh Penguins, showing why they were chosen the pre-season favorite to win it all. Evgeni Malkin snuck a backhand shot under Marty Biron’s left pad 1:19 into the second, Matt Cooke added a second goal one minute later, tipping the puck into a wide open net after an excellent centering pass from Tyler Kennedy.
Marian Gaborik cut the Pittsburgh lead to one scoring his 35th goal of the season after receiving a crisp pass from Brad Richards. Gaborik backhanded a puck along the far boards to Richards who quickly found Gaborik streaking down the middle of the ice uncontested. His wrist shot beat the stick side of Marc-Andre Fleury as the Rangers headed into the intermission down 3-2.
Unfortunately for New York, they could not keep up with Sidney Crosby and the Penguins.
As the Penguins’ power play ended, Crosby took the puck behind the net and found Chris Kunitz in the face-off dot. Kunitz’s off balance shot squeaked past Biron’s left shoulder. Pascal Dupuis added the fifth and final goal, four minutes later, scoring on a rebound from Kris Letang’s slap shot from the point.
From there, it was Marc-Andre Fleury’s time to shine. The 27 year old goaltender turned away all 13 Rangers’ shots in the third period, making several highlight reel saves in the process. John Mitchell was the unfortunate victim of three amazing saves in the final minutes. Mitchell had a multiple attempts to jam in a loose puck but Fleury smothered it before Mitchell could capitalize on the rebound. On the same shift, 17 seconds later, Mitchell fired a wrist shot that was gloved out of the air as Fleury laid on his side, pads stacked. Then, with under 30 seconds remaining in the game, Mitchell tipped the puck in front but was stopped by Marc-Andre Fleury’s paddle.
As expected, Crosby’s return only made the Penguins better. Invincible in the previous nine games, the Penguins hit the Rangers with wave after wave of uncontested talent. Dan Bylsma mixed up the lines to make John Tortorella’s job even tougher as the Rangers’ head coach. Crosby started with Cooke and Kennedy but was soon centering Jordan Staal. Before an adjustment could be made on the Rangers’ bench, Crosby was matched with Evgeni Malkin.
The Pittsburgh Penguins are red-hot heading into the most critical moments of the regular season. From here, the schedule does not get any easier. The Penguins will travel to New Jersey to play the Devils who are only 4 points behind. After that, the team will play against the Philadelphia Flyers, only two points back from the Penguins.
- Sidney Crosby logged 16:00 minutes in his return.
- Since being 5-6-0 on January 7th, the Penguins have gone 4-1 against Atlantic Division opponents.
- The Penguins’ 10 game winning streak now ties them with the Boston Bruins for longest win streak this season.
- Matt Cooke is now three goals shy of a career record while on pace to record a quarter of his penalty minute total from last season.
Photo courtesy of Yahoo!
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