Rangers edge Penguins to reclaim series lead
Carl Hagelin and the New York Rangers have a 2-1 series lead. (USATSI)
Every night during the Stanley Cup playoffs, Eye On Hockey writers Adam Gretz and Chris Peters will bring you up to speed everything you need to know about all of the action around the NHL. Here is what you need to know about Penguins vs. Rangers Game 3.
Rangers 2, Penguins 1 | Rangers lead series 2-1 | Game 4 Monday
Game 3 in a nutshell: For the first two-and-a-half periods the Penguins were completely incapable of generating any sort of a push offensively. Part of it was their own mistakes and a patchwork defense that could not start the play out of their own zone. Part of it was systematic domination by the Rangers defensively. The Penguins didn’t start to get any kind of consistent pressure until late in the third period when Patric Hornqvist got them on the board and they barely missed on a couple of more chances that could have tied the game. Nice push at the end, but too little, too late.
Turning point: The Rangers opened the scoring early in the first period when Keith Yandle made a perfect pass to Carl Hagelin to split the Pittsburgh defense, taking advantage of a poor line change, and sending the speedster in on a breakaway where he beat Marc-Andre Fleury for the first goal. Just before that pass happened, Yandle took Sidney Crosby out of the play. Depending on where you’re from or what your rooting interests are, you might see that play one of two ways: Great defense or, as they like say these day, “subtle interference.”
Three things we learned
1. Mike Johnston needs to take take a page out of the Patrick Roy playbook when it comes to aggressively pulling the goalie. With Just a little more than two minutes to play in regulation and his team down by a goal, the Penguins had an offensive zone faceoff at the start of what would be two minutes of four-on-four hockey. This would have been an ideal time to get an extra attacker on the ice. The Rangers were on their heels, the Penguins needed a goal, and it would have basically been a five-on-four power play where the Rangers would not have had the ability to ice the puck. Real missed opportunity.
2. For most of the night Henrik Lundqvist probably could have taken a nap in his crease and it wouldn’t have impacted the game. That is how little pressure the Penguins were creating. But when the Rangers needed him late in the game to protect their one-goal lead, Lundqvist was at his best and made several key saves on some quality scoring chances.
3. Outside of the final 10 minutes when Pittsburgh was making its push to try and tie the game, this game looked like it was being played and mud. It took the Penguins nearly 15 minutes to record their first shot of the game, and midway through the second period the two teams hadn’t even combined for 20 shots on goal. Goal scoring is down in the NHL. We know this. But most of this game took it to a new level.
Video of the night: The aforementioned Keith Yandle-to-Carl Hagelin play to set up the Rangers’ first goal. This is why the Rangers gave up a top prospect and a first-round draft pick for him. He can be magic with the puck.
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