NEW YORK- Taking game one on Thursday night, the New York Rangers faced off against the Pittsburgh Penguins for game two action Saturday.
With Henrik Lundqvist and Marc-Andre Fleury taking their stance in between the pipes, the game was on.
Rushing into the Penguins zone midway through the first period, J.T. Miller slid the puck across ice to Derek Stepan. Sending the puck past Fleury, Stepan gave the Rangers the early lead.
Guilty of high sticking with less than a minute remaining in the period, Chris Kunitz took a seat in the box.
Beginning the second period on the mad advantage, the Rangers could not increase the lead.
Sent to the box for tripping Carl Hagelin looked on, sending Pittsburgh on their first power play of the game.
Wasting no time on the power play, Brandon Sutter went to work. Finding the puck in the air, Sutter gained control. Slapping the puck towards Lundqvist, Sutter lit the lamp.
The Penguins scoring trend did not stop there.
Finding the puck on his stick, Captain Sidney Crosby danced into the Rangers zone. Scoring his first goal of the playoffs, Crosby gained the lead.
With over a minute to play, the puck was on Crosby’s stick once again. Increasing the lead, Crosby netted in his 2nd of the night.
As the second period came to a close, Pittsburgh had the 3-1 lead.
Taking an early penalty, Blake Comeau sent the Rangers on their 6th power play of the game.
Scoring on the man advantage, Derick Brassard scored his 2nd goal of the playoff series.
Sending Pittsburgh on their second power play opportunity with Kevin Hayes in the box, Penguins continued to dominate.
Netting in his first of the playoffs, Kunitz gave his club the 4-2 lead.
With one final rush into Fleury, Rick Nash took the shot. Lighting the lamp with 5.1 seconds remaining in the period, Nash attempted the comeback.
Tying the series 1-1, the Pittsburgh Penguins took the 4-3 win over the New York Rangers.
“I don’t think we got up to our standards. Everyone’s got to step it up,” said Mats Zuccarello following his club’s 4-3 loss.
“You don’t win every single game and you don’t play good all the way through it. As of right now, we lost Game Two, we move onto Game Three. All we can do is kind of learn from what cost us tonight and get ourselves ready for Game Three,” stated Stepan. “It’s what the playoffs are all about. We’ve all been through it. You have to handle the ups and downs of it.”
“They’re a really good team; we knew that going into this series,” said Lundqvist, who stopped 18 shots Saturday. “They are a strong team and they had a great season, for the most part. We knew they were going to come into this game with more energy. There are a couple things we can talk about and try to do better and go to Pittsburgh and try to get one Monday.
With game two in the books, the Rangers are heading to Steel City to take on the Penguins for game three action on Monday night.
Puck drop between the New York Rangers and the Pittsburgh Penguins is slated for 7 p.m.
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