NEW YORK- Increasing the series lead 3-1 in an exciting overtime win in Pittsburgh Wednesday night, the New York Rangers had the opportunity to eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday night.
After suffering an arm injury, Rangers defenseman Kevin Klein is making strides to return to game action in the near future. Without Klein on the blue line, game five action continued on.
Guarding the post for their respective clubs, Henrik Lundqvist and Marc-Andre Fleury stood tall in net.
Guilty of tripping early in the first period, Nick Spaling gave the Rangers the first power play opportunity of the game.
Wasting no time on the mad advantage, Derek Stepan lit the lamp with his second goal of the post season.
With less than a minute remaining in the first period, Derick Brassard was sent to the box for hooking.
Starting the second period with power play time still on the clock, Pittsburgh could not earn a tally.
Taking a puck to the face early in the period, Mat Zuccarello exited the game and did not return.
Sending the Rangers back on the power play, Blake Comeau took a seat. Testing Fleury, the Rangers did not capitalize.
Rushing into Lundqvist, Pittsburgh crashed the net. Slipping the puck over Lundqvist’s pads, Spaling tied the game.
With speculations of a bad goal, the play went under review. As the announcement was made, Madison Square Garden was silent. With a good goal standing, unhappy fans let the referees know they did not like the call, but the game continued on.
As the horn sounded ending the second period, the game was tied 1-1.
Beginning the third period, both teams played fast and physical.
Unable to break the tie at the end of 20 minutes, game five headed to overtime.
With overtime underway, the desperation for Pittsburgh set in.
Taking the series win 10:52 into overtime, Carl Hagelin lit the lamp.
As he heads of Pittsburgh hung low, New York celebrated. Shaking hands and parting ways the New York Rangers eliminated the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2-1 win.
“Can’t describe the feeling. I was laying on the ice, crowd got louder & louder. I got goosebumps. Heard Dom (Moore) yelling in my ear,” Hagelin recalled his game winning goal. “One of the happiest moments of my life.” He continued, “Anytime you can win on overtime twice, it shows a lot of character. A lot of guys are willing to go the extra step to win games.”
“For the most part we did a great job of shutting them down. Huge part of our winning,” said Lundqvist following the win.
“We fired everything we could at them. Unfortunately we came up short,” said Penguins head coach Mike Johnson following elimination. “we were really good in the series, really good. It’s a fine line with all those 2-1 games.”
“I thought we really battled hard, we really competed, and that’s all you can ask of your players,” he added.
With the Penguins headed back to Pittsburgh empty handed, the Rangers are set to prepare for around two action.
Round two schedule to be announced.
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