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Rangers come up short in Game 3 at Garden
By TonyH | April 30, 2008
No late games hero’s for New York
Penguins hold a dominating 3-0 series lead over the Rangers
The Rangers have played well with their backs to the wall throughout the 2007-08 season, and after dropping Game 3 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against Pittsburgh by a 5-3 score on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden, the Blueshirts now face hockey’s ultimate challenge.
Only two NHL teams have ever rebounded from 3-0 deficits to win a playoff series, with the last one achieving it 33 years ago. Pittsburgh was the victim of that particular comeback, and after falling to the Penguins in Tuesday’s series “swing game” at The Garden, the Rangers must try to make it happen to the Pens again. That effort begins with Game 4 at MSG on Thursday night.
“Obviously it was a big game for us to get back in the series,” Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist said of Game 3. “It (Game 4) is going to be a tough one for us. We did so many good things tonight. There is still a chance.”
Penguins sniper Evgeni Malkin, who has scored game-winners in five of Pittsburgh’s six 2007-08 regular-season and playoff victories over the Rangers, got another one on Tuesday. Malkin snapped a 3-3 tie late in the second period after the Blueshirts had fought back from a two-goal deficit and ignited the full force of a capacity Garden crowd.
“He was certainly a strength,” Rangers head coach Tom Renney said of Malkin. “As much as anything, our special teams have to be better tonight. He (Malkin) was good — there was no two ways about that. As a team, what is impressive about them is that they are bending but not breaking. That is maybe something they have got going for themselves right now. We appreciate that (but) we are going to keep coming at them. We have certainly found some things that work for us as we anticipated it would. We needed it three games ago. We are going to work again on Thursday (and) try to get this done.”
Malkin’s power-play tally with three seconds left in a boarding penalty to Ryan Hollweg and only 2:07 left in the second period proved to be the difference, not just because it propelled the Pens to victory but also because it saved them from collapse. An early third-period goal from Ryan Malone padded the lead just enough for Pittsburgh to spend the final 17 minutes with a team focus on protecting goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury.
Pittsburgh, which was winless at The Garden during the regular season, improved to a perfect 7-0 in the 2008 playoffs after sweeping defending Eastern Conference champion Ottawa in the first round. The Penguins, who have turned years’ worth of high draft picks into the core of a championship caliber team, came into the most hostile of arenas for any visitor and found a way to win despite the Rangers’ lopsided advantage in shots on goal.
The Blueshirts fired 39 shots at Fleury, compared to only 17 that got through to Lundqvist. There were even more scoring opportunities than that for both teams, as a number of shots that could have changed the game’s momentum sailed wide of the net.
Malkin, named one of three finalists for the Hart Trophy as the NHL’s MVP this week, showed why he finished second in the league in scoring in 2007-08. He had two goals and an assist on Tuesday, scoring to give the Pens a 3-1 lead in the first period and then delivering the eventual winner. He also won the offensive-zone faceoff that led to Malone’s insurance goal — on the redirection of a Kris Letang shot — at 2:30 of the third.
The game-winner capped off a wild second period that was truly a remarkable 20 minutes of hockey. The Rangers outshot the Pens 14-4 and fought back to tie the game with two quick goals after coming up empty during an extended power play earlier in the period.
But the only second-period goal that really mattered was Malkin’s, a back-breaker that found the net just when it appeared the Rangers had successfully killed Hollweg’s penalty. By converting their power play opportunity in its closing seconds, the Penguins managed to take back the game’s momentum and set the stage for a strong third-period performance.
“First of all, I don’t think anyone feels worse in this building than Ryan Hollweg,” said Renney. “His teammates love him, and he comes to war for each and every one of those guys. It is a very tough penalty to take, we know that. We came close to killing it, but (we were) unsuccessful at the end of the day. That was probably the turning point in the game as far as I can tell.”
Prior to Malkin’s goal, the Rangers’ big second-period surge resulted in two tallies in 64 seconds by Ryan Callahan and Jaromir Jagr. Callahan would score off a sharp pass from Scott Gomez, while Jagr would get it done pretty much by himself, collecting a Gomez pass behind the net and then burning Fleury with a one-on-one turnaround move.
The 64-second outburst was even more impressive because it took place only five minutes after the Rangers had been unable to cash in on a 4:46 string of power-play time that included two separate 5-on-3 stretches totaling 1:05.
After coming up short despite six shots on goal during the extended power play, the Rangers got their offense in gear in a hurry over the final half of the middle period. It began with Gomez taking a pass from Sean Avery behind the net and fending off a Pittsburgh defender long enough to send a heads-up pass back out in front to Callahan.
Callahan wasted no timed sending Gomez’s feed past Fleury to cut Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-2 with 7:53 left in the second. That got The Garden rocking again, and the Rangers fed off their vocal fans’ enthusiasm to suddenly open up the offensive floodgates.
Jagr would pick up the Rangers’ second goal of the period by beating Fleury from the opposite side of the crease from where Callahan scored. Left without a passing option like Gomez’s, the Blueshirts captain took the puck out from behind the net, circled around the goaltender’s left side, and rifled it over his right shoulder to tie the game at 13:11, just 1:04 after his young teammate’s goal.
“He was outstanding,” Renney said of Jagr. “As much as Malkin was good for them, I thought Jaromir Jagr was the best player on the ice.”
Between the two tallies, the Rangers lost fourth-line center Blair Betts to an injury. Betts left the ice after being hit in the face by the puck, and he did not return. Chris Drury had also suffered a minor injury that kept him out of the remainder of the second period, but he returned for the third.
The Rangers continued to apply pressure on Fleury after their two-goal spurt, and by the time Gomez hit the crossbar at 15:15, the Rangers’ shots-on-goal advantage had swelled to 29-12.
Hollweg was then whistled for boarding former teammate Petr Sykora at 15:56, but the Rangers picked up even more momentum from what appeared to be a successful penalty kill. Malkin, however, had not given up on the Pens’ lone man-advantage of that second period. Despite having three consecutive shots blocked by Rangers defenders, he kept on cranking and eventually scored with a blast from near the right faceoff dot that caught the far post and went into the net to make it 4-3 at 17:57.
Malkin later helped seal the win at 2:30 of the third when he won a faceoff in the Rangers zone and got the puck to Sykora, who fed it back to Letang at the right point. Letang’s low slapper was picked up and redirected by Malone in the slot, giving the Pens a 5-3 lead.
Sykora was also involved in what could have been a turning point for the Rangers, when he took the first of three straight Pittsburgh penalties in the second period. His holding call in the offensive zone at 2:52 was followed by an interference penalty to another former Ranger, Pascal Dupuis, at 4:11 and a roughing call against Brooks Orpik at 5:38.
The Rangers had six shots during their two separate, short-term 5-on-3, including a golden chance for Drury that led to Fleury temporarily playing without a stick. The Rangers’ inability to convert on the Pittsburgh penalty parade proved the difference in the game, as the Blueshirts went 0-for-5 with the man-advantage.
“Maybe the pressure is getting to us a little bit,” said Jagr. “We know we have to score. That was the difference. They scored on their opportunities and we didn’t score on our opportunities. We just have to focus on the next game.”
The first period was the roughest going for the Rangers, even though they outshot the Pens 15-9 and had numerous scoring chances. Only one of those shots — a Martin Straka goal that required extensive video review — went into the net, however, while the Pens converted three of their nine shots at Lundqvist for a 3-1 lead after 20 minutes.
Playing a textbook road game designed to quiet the Rangers’ fans, the Pens struck early — just 62 seconds into the game — when Sidney Crosby started a play that led to Marian Hossa’s third goal of the playoffs.
Picking up the puck at his own blueline, Crosby skated through the neutral zone and fired a shot on net that Dupuis redirected into Lundqvist. The rebound came out to Hossa, who was just outside the crease to Lundqvist’s right, and he was able to catch the Blueshirts goalie out of position for a quick goal at 1:02.
If taking the crowd out of the game was their objective, the Pens had failed. Hossa’s goal seemed to fire up the Garden Faithful even more, and the Rangers would dominate much of the game’s next 13 minutes.
Jagr got the offense going with the Rangers’ first shot of the game at 2:15, but Fleury stopped that one-timer from the left circle. Only 25 seconds later, Fleury came up with another big save on defenseman Marc Staal, and it was clear that the Rangers had settled down and were playing their game. Straka nearly tied the game at 5:49, when he took Jagr’s pass from behind the net but shot wide of the left post.
At 6:13, Jagr was called for hooking Hossa in the neutral zone, but the teams found themselves skating 4-on-4 because officials also penalized Hossa for diving on the play. During the 4-on-4, the Rangers applied heavy pressure, particularly from Drury and Callahan. Shortly after he came out of the box, Jagr also had a golden opportunity stopped.
All alone in the crease in front of Fleury, Jagr tried to roof the puck into the top right corner, but an off-balance Fleury managed to glove it at 8:47. At the other end of the ice, the Rangers soon caught a break of their own at 9:27, when Malkin made a rare mistake and fired wide while trying to cap off a 2-on-1.
Lundqvist made his best save of the period at the 13:16 mark, robbing Hossa after the Slovak winger had taken a perfect set-up pass in front from Crosby. That seemed to inspire the Blueshirts, who would score the tying goal just over a minute later.
The play that created Straka’s goal began with Jagr and Mara breaking into the Pittsburgh zone on a 2-on-1. Jagr dished the puck off to the defenseman Mara and headed for the net, where he managed to deflect Mara’s shot as he set a screen. Fleury made the stop on Jagr’s deflection, but the puck skittered out to Straka, who whacked it into the goal just before the net came off its moorings as Jagr went into it..
Immediately after the play, all of the skaters on the ice converged into one big scrum that led to roughing calls against three players from each team. As they sorted out the penalties, officials reviewed the play to determine when the net was dislodged, and the on-ice ruling was upheld for a 1-1 tie at 14:32.
Straka’s goal ended Fleury’s shutout streak at 84: 28 and was the first goal allowed by Pittsburgh since the third period of Game 1. Unfortunately, it was also the high point of the first period for the Blueshirts, because the Pens would score twice over the period’s final four minutes.
The first goal came from an unlikely scorer, enforcer Georges Laraque, who capitalized on a bad bounce in the Rangers zone.
The play started with Malkin sending the puck in behind the net to Sykora. His centering pass got caught up in Betts’ skates and rebounded right onto the stick of Laracque, who rifled it in for his first goal of the playoffs at 16:17.
Matters grew worse for the Rangers when Callahan received a four-minute double-minor penalty for high-sticking Hal Gill at 16:49, and Malkin cashed in at 17:41 with bullet from just inside the blueline to make it 3-1. Malkin’s blast, assisted by Sergei Gonchar and Hossa, sailed through Malone’s legs and into the net past a screened Lundqvist.
That goal would end up paling in comparison to Malkin’s tally late in the second.
Renney made two major strategic changes entering the game. First he brought Ryan Hollweg back into the lineup for the first time since Round 1, opting to sit Coloton Orr. Renney also he shifted Brendan Shanahan to fourth line and brought speedy Fredrik Sjostrom up to play right wing on No. 2 line with Gomez and Avery.
“Certainly I think the message is that we played well tonight (and) we have to take what we did tonight and carry it over,” said center Brandon Dubinsky. “We controlled the play most of the time. Special teams hasn’t been our friend. We have to win some of those battles. If we play the same way and just tidy a few little things we have a chance. Just take it one game at a time and don’t look too far ahead for ourselves.”
Jagr agreed that at 3-0 the Rangers are down, but certainly not out.
“It is pretty tough to be down 3-0 but they have to win four games,” said Jagr. “They have to close it. Even such a great team like the Yankees didn’t hold a 3-0 lead. They are the best ever. We can make history.”
Source: Rangers Official Website
From Penguins Website:
NEW YORK (AP) -Evgeni Malkin looked every bit like an MVP at MSG and pushed the Pittsburgh Penguins to the brink of the Eastern Conference finals.
Only hours after Malkin was announced as a Hart Trophy finalist, the second-year forward showed how he led the NHL in goals and points.
He scored two power-play goals and added an assist in the Penguins’ 5-3 victory over the New York Rangers on Tuesday night that gave Pittsburgh a 3-0 lead in the series.
“I’m definitely proud of him,” said captain Sidney Crosby, last year’s Hart winner. “As a teammate, you always want to see other guys do well. He did that all season. It was a great accomplishment.”
The Penguins are 7-0 in the playoffs and can advance into hockey’s final four as early as Thursday night with another win at Madison Square Garden where they lost all four times they visited in the regular season.
The Penguins are still rolling after a four-game sweep of Ottawa in the first round.
“We are in a great position,” said forward Marian Hossa, who scored the first goal of the game. “Nobody would think that we would be in this position after three games, but right now we are greedy. We want to win another one.”
Just when it seemed the Rangers were going to blow right past the Penguins, a careless boarding penalty by Ryan Hollweg put Pittsburgh back on the power play. And despite being outshot 29-13, the Penguins regained the lead when Malkin scored another power-play goal.
New York pressed for the go-ahead score after its two quick ones forged a 3-3 tie. The Penguins were tired in their own zone when Hollweg, a healthy scratch for the first two games of the series, drilled Petr Sykora from behind into the boards.
“It was not too smart on his part,” Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney said. “Because of that, we were able to go into the third period with a lead.”
With quick, crisp passes that slid all over the Rangers end during the advantage, the Penguins moved the New York defenders around in exhausting fashion. Crosby’s pass nicked Ryan Callahan before getting to Malkin in the right circle.
Malkin took his time and sent a shot into the net off the left post to make it 4-3 with 2:07 left in the second. Last season’s rookie of the year has five goals in the playoffs, three in this series.
It took all of the exhilaration out of the crowd that went from listless, after a discouraging first period, to jubilant when Jaromir Jagr’s sweeping move from behind the net finished with a deft shot into the top left corner of the net.
“Nobody feels worse than Ryan Hollweg,” Rangers coach Tom Renney said.
The Penguins eked out wins at home in the opening two games against the Rangers, rallying from a 3-0 deficit to win Game 1 and prevailing 2-0 on Sunday on the strength of Marc-Andre Fleury’s shutout.
Pittsburgh is looking to advance to the East finals for the first time since 2001. Only two NHL teams have come back to win a series after trailing 3-0. The 1975 New York Islanders did it to the Penguins in the second round.
The Boston Red Sox are the only other team in any other sport to pull off the feat, toppling the New York Yankees in 2004.
“It’s pretty tough to be down 3-0, but they have to win four games,” said Jagr, who took 10 shots. “Even such a great team like the Yankees didn’t hold a 3-0 lead. They are the best ever. We can make history.”
New York, which dominated the shot clock with a 39-17 edge, had the stirring rally in this one, erasing a two-goal deficit in the second period. But Malkin restored the Penguins’ lead before the frame was finished, then won a key faceoff in the Rangers end that helped set up Ryan Malone’s goal that made it 5-3 at 2:30 of the third.
Hossa, Georges Laraque and Malkin scored for Pittsburgh around a goal by New York’s Martin Straka in the first period.
Ryan Callahan and Jagr scored 1:04 apart in the second to tie it.
“With the desperation they had, we tried to do our best to match,” Crosby said. “In the first period, we did a pretty good job, in the second we didn’t play well at all, and in the third we picked it up again. You can’t afford to have bad periods but you have to find ways to ways to win sometimes.”
Laraque, who scored four goals in the regular season, snapped off a shot from in front after a pass by Malkin from behind the net at 16:17. Just 52 seconds after the 5-foot-11 Callahan took a 4-minute high-sticking penalty for clipping 6-7 defenseman Hal Gill, Malkin netted his first of the night.
Except for the closing seconds of Game 2 when Adam Hall sealed Pittsburgh’s win with an empty-netter, this marked the first time the Rangers trailed by more than one goal this postseason.
As has been the case in all three games, the power play has made the difference on both sides. Pittsburgh has scored at least one man-advantage goal in each of its seven postseason games, including four in this series.
The Rangers were 0-for-5 on the power play in this one and are 1-for-14. New York was given three straight advantages within a 2:08 span early in the second period, but couldn’t convert. The overlap gave them two 5-on-3 power plays that totaled 75 futile seconds.
Hossa staked the Penguins to a 1-0 lead 1:02 into the game with his third of the playoffs. The Rangers tied it with 5:28 left in the first on Straka’s goal that came when Jagr crashed the net.
Notes: Rangers C Chris Drury was hampered after appearing to injure a shoulder in the second period. New York lost C Blair Betts in that frame after he was struck in the face while blocking a shot. … The Penguins are 9-2 in Game 3 of series they’ve led 2-0, 8-0 on the road.
Source: Penguins Official Website
Topics: 08 Playoffs, Rangers |