Penguins Edge The Rangers In Overtime, 3-2
Eric Staal scored a pair of goals for his first two-goal performance as a Ranger since being acquired from Carolina on February 28. Both of his linemates, Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast, contributed a pair of assists to the Blueshirts effort.
The Rangers and Penguins traded a goal apiece in each of the first two periods and reached the second intermission tied 2-2, and with New York holding a slight 22-21 advantage in shots.
Staal started the Rangers off on the right foot by scoring just 4:19 into the game on a terrific effort on his part and off a beautiful lead pass from Hayes. Staal scooted down the middle towards the net and with only one hand on his stick was able to redirect Hayes' perfectly-placed pass up and over Penguins goalie Marc-Andre Fleury to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
Pittsburgh answered back at 15:49 of the first when Matt Cullen tipped a Derrick Pouliot left wing shot off Lundqvist and just over the goal line. Even though the Rangers had slightly the better of the play in the first period, with a few more scoring chances and shots, they skated into the dressing room tied 1-1.
However like they did in the opening period the Rangers started the second period with a bang, grabbing a 2-1 lead on Staal's second of the night, third as a Ranger, and 13th of the season at the 2:07 mark. This time Fast knocked the puck off a Penguins stick 20-feet from Pittsburgh's net. The puck slid to Staal at the bottom of the right circle and he wired a shot past Fleury as New York regained the lead.
Energized by his two goals, Staal confidently set about generating scoring chances with his linemate,ates the rest of the period. He came close to recording a Hat Trick at 13:05 of the second, but was denied one on one down low as Fleury made a clutch pad save.
The scoring opportunity was set up on a neat passing sequence in which Hayes swung a behind the back pass to Marc Staal just inside the Penguins blue line and Staal found big brother Eric alone by the Penguins crease.
While Staal was the Rangers best player in the second, Phil Kessel was in the midst of an impressive period for Pittsburgh. Coming off a career-best five-point effort in Saturday's 7-2 win over the Detroit Red Wings, Kessel tied the score, 2-2, at 8:36 of the second burying the rebound of a Carl Hagelin bad-angle shot after Lundqvist came out of his net to play the puck and mistakenly put it on to the stick of his former teammate in the left-wing corner.
A minute after tying the game, Kessel nearly gave the Penguins their first lead when he stripped Rick Nash of the puck in the Rangers defensive zone and proceeded to rip a right wing shot short side off the post. Later in the period Kessel turned on the jets and flew past Ryan McDonagh on right wing forcing Lundqvist into a difficult save.
In the third period Lundqvist and Fleury traded some big saves to keep the score tied. At 6:49 Pittsburgh's Patric Hornqvist found himself alone and whisked an in-close backhand shot on net which Lundqvist denied with his pads; and two minutes later Staal generated another great scoring chance for New York with a crushing hit in the corner which caused a turnover, and then followed with a slick dish to Fast whose one-timer was stopped by a sharp Fleury.
The Penguins outshot New York 9-5 in the third period, and Lundqvist made two solid saves on separate excellent scoring chances for Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang in the latter half of the period.
BlueshirtsUnited.com
FINAL STATS
NY RANGERS 2 PITTSBURGH PENGUINS 3 FINAL OVERTIME
SOG: NYR 27 PIT 32
Scoring Summary
1st Period
04:19 NYR Eric Staal (12) Backhand shot - ASST: Kevin Hayes (21), Jesper Fast (17) 1 - 0 NYR
15:49 PIT Matt Cullen (13) Tip-in - ASST: Derrick Pouliot (7), Trevor Daley (20) 1 - 1 Tie
2nd Period
02:07 NYR Eric Staal (13) Snap shot - ASST: Jesper Fast (18), Kevin Hayes (22) 2 - 1 NYR
08:36 PIT Phil Kessel (23) Backhand shot - ASST: Carl Hagelin (22) 2 - 2 Tie
3rd Period
NONE
Overtime
04:30 PIT Sidney Crosby (32) Tip-in - ASST: Kris Letang (43), Phil Kessel (31) 3 - 2 PIT
Penalty Summary
1st Period
11:19 PIT Kris Letang Slashing - 2 min against Rick Nash
2nd Period
NONE
3rd Period
01:52 PIT Nick Bonino Tripping - 2 min against Derick Brassard
08:54 NYR Derick Brassard Hi-sticking - 2 min against Conor Sheary
Final Team Stats
Power Plays PIT 0/2 NYR 0/2
Hits PIT 23 NYR 26
Faceoff Wins PIT 36 NYR 31
Giveaways PIT 12 NYR 19
Takeaways PIT 13 NYR 5
Blocked Shots PIT 24 NYR 26
Penalty Minutes PIT 4 NYR 4
FINAL NYR FACEOFF%: MILLER 100%, HAYES 0%, E STAAL 38%, BRASSARD 42%, STEPAN 61%, MOORE 50%
Three Stars of the Game
1st
Phil Kessel
G: 1 Shots: 5
A: 1 Hits: 0
PTS: 2 PIM: 0
+/-: 2 TOI: 17:45
Pittsburgh Penguins
2nd
Eric Staal
G: 2 Shots: 4
A: 0 Hits: 2
PTS: 2 PIM: 0
+/-: 1 TOI: 16:28
New York Rangers
3rd
Sidney Crosby
G: 1 Shots: 4
A: 0 Hits: 0
PTS: 1 PIM: 0
+/-: 1 TOI: 23:05
Pittsburgh Penguins
NEXT GAME
Rangers return to action on the road to close out March as Eric Staal makes his first return to Carolina on Wednesday vs the Hurricanes, 7:00 PM
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