Penguins take Game Three with stellar defensive showing

AP Photo/Frank Franklin II

The Penguins came into New York reeling after allowing four goals to the Rangers in Game Two and getting thoroughly thrashed in most aspects of the game. But coach Mike Sullivan adjusted, the Penguins shut it down in their own end, and beat the Rangers at their own game.

The game could have been much different though, as Chris Kreider appeared to give the Rangers an early lead. The goal was disallowed after the Rangers were ruled offside on the zone entry. Rick Nash later scored a shorty, but the goal by Kreider was sorely missed at that point for what could have been a 2-0 lead. Considering the Rangers got absolutely nothing at even strength, every goal mattered.

You have to tip your cap to the Penguins though, they really shut down the Rangers at even strength. The Rangers couldn’t get anything going, and it wasn’t from lack of effort. The Penguins cut off passing lanes, stood up at the blue line, and clogged the middle for their rookie goalie. The Rangers played well defensively, Pittsburgh was better.

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

Rangers 1, Penguins 0

Right after Chris Kreider took a boarding penalty, Kevin Klein led Rick Nash out of the zone for a breakaway shorthanded. Nash picked the corner beautifully.

Penguins 1, Rangers 1

With Marc Staal in the box, Kris Letang was able to keep the zone off the faceoff getting the puck over to Evgeni Malkin, then to Phil Kessel at the off-wing. Kessel fired a hard pass that hit Crosby’s stick at the back door for the goal.

Penguins 2, Rangers 1

Dan Boyle misfired off the boards. When Keith Yandle came to cover, they ran into each other, springing Matt Cullen on the break. Cullen beat Hank five-hole.

Penguins 3, Rangers 1

Kris Letang empty netter.

Shot Attempts

The Penguins really stepped it up offensively this game. They were doing two things very well which led to a significant uptick in attempts for them and downtick for the Rangers. They were forechecking hard and shutting down the Rangers’ ability to gain the offensive zone with speed. Combine them both, and you have what you see above: More zone time for the Penguins and fewer shot attempts by the Rangers.

Scoring Chances

It wasn’t just quantity of shots the Penguins were getting, as about half of their attempts were quality attempts. The Rangers weren’t exactly poor on defense, but they weren’t as good as they were in Game Two. The Pens found holes and were able to get good looks on net. Henrik Lundqvist was up to the task, though.

Individual Corsi

When you see such large margins in the two preceding charts, something like this individual Corsi chart is expected. I don’t read too much into these at the per-game level. Just an FYI, more or less.

Shot Locations

The Penguins put on a clinic. This isn’t lack of effort, this is simply a defensive vacuum by the Penguins.

Shift Chart

I don’t know why the fourth line continues to get shifts with less than ten minutes remaining and trailing. I disliked what John Tortorella did with only playing 13 guys, but Alain Vigneault is the complete opposite end of the spectrum, rolling everyone no matter what. Of course, that doesn’t include Kevin Hayes, who barely played. Tanner Glass got three more shifts than Hayes. Sigh.

This one hurt. The Rangers really could have used this game, but they couldn’t solve the collapsing Penguins defense. Both goals –including the disallowed Kreider goal– were on special teams. The Penguins adjusted after Game Two. Can the Rangers make the adjustments for Game Four?