AP Photo/Seth Wenig

AP Photo/Seth Wenig

The Rangers had their win streak snapped at three games last night, losing in overtime to the Penguins in what was a pretty well played game by both clubs. The goalies were good, not great, and both picked their spots well for offense. But the Rangers were also lucky, as the Penguins hit three posts in the game. This game could have ended in regulation just as easily.

Phil Kessel really took it to the Rangers this game, clicking with Carl Hagelin all game and completely dominating the time they got against Dan Girardi (which was most of the game). That line did most of the damage for the Pens, but their success skewed what was a very good showing by the Rangers in the second and third periods. They shelled a bit in the third, clearly playing for overtime.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.comfiltered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Pens 0

This started in the Rangers zone, as Dan Girardi shut down Matt Cullen on a chance. The puck eventually got to Jesper Fast, who flipped the puck out of the zone. The Rangers caught a break here, as Trevor Daley mishandled the puck, allowing Eric Staal to get the puck to Kevin Hayes to start a rush. Daley never fully caught Staal, who took the beautiful Hayes pass and deflected it with one hand.

Pens 1, Rangers 1

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Derek Stepan bit on the initial Daley fake, which took him out of position. Daley got the puck to Derrick Pouliot on the wing with a lot of room, where Dan Boyle deserted his man to go block the shot (while Marc Staal dealt with his man in front). Stepan also went to Pouliot, so there was a miscommunication that left Matt Cullen wide open for the deflection and then the tip in.

Rangers 2, Pens 1

Eric Staal got his second after the Penguins couldn’t control the puck in their own zone, and Jesper Fast got the puck to Eric who put it over Fleury.

Pens 2, Rangers 2

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This was a bit of a miscommunication by Yandle, Lundqvist, and Dan Girardi. Carl Hagelin got in behind Yandle and Girardi, forcing Hank to play the puck. Yandle called for the puck to be wrapped around, but Hank backhanded it against the grain. Hagelin read it, got there, and put it on net. Hank was out of position, and Phil Kessel got there before Yandle could.

Pens 3, Rangers 2

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Three on three hockey is weird. Zuccarello was low on Crosby in front of the net and didn’t get good body position on him. Kris Letang’s shot hit off Crosby and went in. Three on three is weird.

Shot Attempts

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I found this to be particularly interesting, as the Rangers clearly went into shell mode in the third period, playing for overtime. They also played a very good second period, but bookended a poor middle of the first with a solid beginning and end.

Scoring Chances

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While the Rangers had stints of not getting any shot attempts, they did a solid job limiting the Pens to the outside. Kessel and Hagelin made the Penguins look a lot better than they actually were in this game.

Individual Corsi

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This is a bit misleading. As mentioned above, the Pens got a lot of shots, but few were quality chances. But this does at least give me some satisfaction that I thought Marc Staal had a nice game, which shows here.

Shot Location

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This looks like the Rangers gave up a lot of chances, but there are a lot of Bs and Ms in that chart on the left. Remember that only larger letters are scoring chances. I think the Rangers did a decent job defending in this game.

Shift Chart

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Kessel and Hagelin mostly drew Girardi and Yandle, and made them look silly all game. That was a terrible matchup. If that’s the one thing this team learned, then that’s fine.

This was a well played game by both teams in a matchup that we will likely see in the first round of the playoffs again. You have to assume both goalies play better and the teams tighten up as well. By then, we could be looking at different teams.

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