Photo: Jim McIsaac

The Rangers hosted the ailing Penguins, missing half their roster, and still managed to get outplayed for most of the game. Henrik Lundqvist was outstanding all game, bailing the Rangers out with multiple sequences of marvelous saves (here, here, here, here, and here. There were others, but my NHL.tv crapped out on me in the third period). But even with Lundqvist standing on his head, the Rangers couldn’t get anything going against the Penguins and Matt Murray.

All that said, the Rangers were able to keep it close and get a last second (literally) goal to tie it. They pressured hard in the third, and it was Chris Kreider who buried the equalizer with 1.2 seconds left. They were pressing so hard, in fact, they gave up a 2-on-0 rush with Conor Sheary and Sidney Crosby. Hank stopped Sheary then swatted the puck away from Crosby. That kept it a close game, and gave the Rangers a chance to tie it. Kreider answered that call.

After an exciting overtime, the shootout was quick. Kessel and Crosby made quick work of the Rangers as the Pens got the extra point.

On to the goals:

Penguins 1, Rangers 0

Dan Girardi cheated too much to Phil Kessel low. Kessel wasn’t scoring from there, and it opened up a lane to Sidney Crosby. When the pass got through, Brendan Smith cheated to Crosby, which left Jake Guentzel open in front for the easy tap-in. There was some talk regarding Jesper Fast, but he was in the right spot, protecting the high slot. The front like that is supposed to be on Girardi/Smith. However you need to give credit to Kessel and Crosby for their phenomenal passing.

Penguins 2, Rangers 0

Hank was barely off the post, but that’s all Crosby needs really.

Penguins 2, Rangers 1

Nick Holden’s point shot on the powerplay hit off Tom Kuhnackl and past Matt Murray.

Penguins 3, Rangers 1

At this point, my NHL.tv crapped out on me, so no gifs from this one on. Sorry.

Bryan Rust was left all alone in front. Ian Cole just had to get him the puck.

Penguins 3, Rangers 2

J.T. Miller’s pass to Rick Nash got deflected, which took Murray out of position. Nash wound up with a lot of empty net short side to shoot at.

Score Adjusted Corsi

The Rangers and Pens actually had very similar Corsi numbers throughout the game. But that doesn’t factor in quality, in which it felt like the Penguins had more. I have nothing to verify that though, since those numbers are still down at hockeystats.ca. But this surprised me. I wonder what it would look like if the Penguins were healthy, though.

The result of the game doesn’t really matter, but I liked that the Rangers showed some cajones and got a point when they could have folded and gone home. Overall though, I’d like to see the Rangers play actual defense and stop allowing quality opportunities. Playing like this and allowing this many chances in the playoffs will lead to a quick exit.

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