PITTSBURGH, Pa – A funny thing happened on the way to a 2-0 series lead for the Pittsburgh Penguins. After having a 1-0 lead in Game Two, the Penguins were quickly reminded in 18 seconds that the New York Rangers won the last two playoff series the past two years.
The Rangers scored twice in 18 seconds to turn a 1-0 deficit to a 2-1 lead and ended up scoring three times in the second period to propel the Rangers to a 4-2 win in Game Two of the NHL Eastern Conference playoffs to tie the series at 1-1 heading back to New York. 
“Finally, we were able to capitalize on a few of our looks,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “We had some good looks. We’ve had some real good zone time both in Game 1 and Game 2 … We’ve had the puck quite a bit. We’ve had the puck quite a bit in their end and we’ve had some good looks.”
New York saw the return of Henrik Lundqvist in net with 29 saves on 31 shots and the Rangers had goals from four different players. The Pens scored both of their goals from Phil Kessel on the power play. The Rangers had 28 shots on goal but half of those were in the second period when they did most of their damage on the scoreboard.
“I think when you go into the playoffs, you’re not going to play the team one time,” Lundqvist said. “You have to earn it many times. It’s so important that you play a physical game and make it hard, especially on their top guys. It should not be easy for them to create anything.
“I think part of that is being physical. We have a lot of guys who can do it, but we need everyone and I think everyone stepped up today and tried to play that physical game.”
Penguin’s goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury did not play for the second straight game as Jeff Zatkoff made 24 saves.
“It’s the playoffs. You have to play right all 60 minutes,” Malkin said. “It’s a tough situation for us, but it’s still 1-1. It’s a series and we go to New York.”
The Rangers set a team record for hits in the games with 57. Games 3 and 4 are in New York on Monday and Wednesday.
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