Matt Murray nabbed his first playoff win in his first playoff appearance, giving the Penguins a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series.
The Penguins came back from an early deficit to dominate the third period, ultimately taking game three with a final score of 3-1.
Several familiar faces rejoined the lineups tonight for both the Pittsburgh Penguins and New York Rangers. Matt Murray took over in goal while the Rangers got their captain, Ryan McDonagh, back.
The 21-year-old Murray, returning from an upper-body injury, is the youngest goaltender to ever start a playoff game for the Pens. Despite not having played since the last regular-season game, Murray looked very sharp early on.
On the other hand, former Ranger Carl Hagelin did not. Admittedly it took me a few minutes to get the game turned on, but as soon as I did the first thing I saw was Hagelin turning the puck over to a Ranger. That isn’t your team anymore, bud.
Nothing less than an incredibly fast-paced game could be expected at this point, with these speedy and aggressive teams. The first period flew by as the players zoomed from end to end.
Things started to get wild as the period wound down. Marc Staal went to the box for tripping up Chris Kunitz. While the Pens were still on the powerplay, Conor Sheary high-sticked the veteran Dominic Moore in the face, drawing a copious amount of blood and a double-minor.
While Sheary sat in the box, the Rangers went ahead 1-0 thanks to a goal from Chris Kreider. He stuck with it and got his own rebound, roofing it over Murray. However, Penguins coach Mike Sullivan challenged the goal, saying that a Ranger was offside entering the zone.
The review went in the Pens’ favor, calling Kreider’s goal back and keeping the game tied at zero.
Thanks to the smart challenge, Sheary returned to the ice with no damage done – well, except to Moore’s face. Moments later, a brawl erupted in front of the Pittsburgh bench, begun by Kunitz and Kevin Hayes, and the penalty boxes refilled.
Kunitz and Kris Letang from Pittsburgh, along with Viktor Stalberg and Hayes from New York, all received roughing penalties. The first period ended with the Pens being out-hit, but outshooting New York 9-6.
Only twenty-two seconds into the second period, Kreider boarded Patric Hornqvist and was penalized. Rick Nash had a shorthanded opportunity and whistled the puck right past Murray, scoring the first shorthanded goal for the Rangers and putting them back ahead.
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Though the Pens had some good chances, they couldn’t convert on any of them. Adding to the Pens’ misery, Trevor Daley took a penalty for grabbing Derick Brassard and hauling him down – though in his complete defense, play had been stopped and Brassard was clinging onto Daley’s defensive partner, Brian Dumoulin, in a chokehold.
(Well, okay, the official game report says Daley was actually in for roughing up Mats Zuccarello, but tomato tomahto. Whatever it was for, the penalty was killed.)
The Pens’ PKers weren’t tired enough yet, though! Evgeni Malkin was caught tripping Brassard just moments later.
The good news: Hagelin has significantly improved since the first couple minutes of the game. He pressured the Rangers throughout and proved to be a general nuisance for his former teammates.
On another note, if any of you are truly invested in my Hagelin jersey saga, it arrived today and it is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.
Back to the game. Malkin was also freed following a strong kill, and the Pens were on fire from that point on. They zoomed up the ice, picked the puck off Rangers’ sticks, and threw bone-crunching hits.
In the last minute of the period Sidney Crosby evened things up with a powerplay tally. Marc Staal was in the box again for tripping Hagelin, and on the man-advantage the captain finally solved Lundqvist.
Set up by Phil Kessel, the puck just bounced off Sid’s stick into the goal. A little puck luck is never a bad thing, especially in tight games like this.
About a third of the way into the final period, Matt Cullen capitalized on a bad change by the Rangers and broke up the ice toward Lundqvist. The wily veteran and onetime Ranger whipped the puck five-hole, giving the Penguins their first lead of the night.
This is Cullen’s third goal in three straight games at Madison Square Garden as he continues to show why he was the most underrated offseason pickup for the Penguins.
Letang high-sticked Stalberg in their second altercation of the evening but despite Stalberg’s bloody mouth no penalty was called. Not that I’m complaining, of course, but it happened.
From Crosby’s goal on, it was all Pens. The visitors attacked Lundqvist with an onslaught of shots, rushing him again and again. In either a move of desperation or just plain disregard for Trevor Daley, Nash at one point launched himself at the defenseman and slammed his head into the edge of the boards.
Daley lost his helmet and returned for his next shift, and Nash wasn’t penalized despite clearly appearing to leave his feet to throw the hit.
Finally, the Rangers pulled Lundqvist for the extra attacker. Though it took quite a few attempts, the Penguins finally managed to get the empty-net goal. McDonagh botched his up-ice pass, shooting the puck straight to Letang, who put it right in the twine.
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That’s Letang’s 16th career playoff goal, the most ever for a Penguins defenseman. Very nice.
The Penguins are now up 2-1 in the series. These foes will meet again on Thursday night as they look to take a commanding 3-1 lead.