Penguins at Rangers - 02-13-11
PREGAME
-Hey, guess where we are:
-No not quite:
EN reader Damon Athens is on hand and sent in a few warm up shots:
(Notice the Andy Bathgate No. 9 Penguins jersey.)
-The Penguins' starters are Craig Adams, Pascal Dupuis, Tyler Kennedy, Paul Martin, Zbynek Michalek and Marc-Andre Fleury.
-Their scratches are Matt Cooke, Eric Godard and Ben Lovejoy.
-The Rangers' starters are Artem Anisimov, Sean Avery, Derek Stepan, Ryan McDonagh, Michael Sauer and Henrik Lundqvist.
-Their only scratch is Michael Del Zotto.
-FSN Pittsburgh provides lines and defensive pairings:
-That Sterling-Staal-Johnson line has intrigue.
-As always, there are Penguins fans there:
FIRST PERIOD
18:18: Chris Conner hustles his way up the right wing and jabs a little shot wide of the cage.
17:55: After Conner is denied in tight twice by Lundqvist, the puck trickles out to Deryk Engelland at the right point. Engelland chops a one-time. It appears to hit Steve Eminter and deflects into the cage. Lundqvist was badly out of position after those inital saves on Conner. Conner and Rupp get assists. Penguins 1-0.
17:02: Mats Zuccarello snaps off a wrister out of play from the left circle. Pascal Dupuis is sent off for slashing Zuccarello. Craig Adams, Jordan Staal, Brooks Orpik and Zbynek Michalek take the ice.
15:33: Stepan grips and rips a wrister from the left circle to the far side. Fleury challenges and bodies the puck away.
15:04: Dan Girardi pumps a slapper on net from the right point. Despite traffic, Fleury knocks it down and covers to freeze play.
14:54: We said this line would be intriguing. Jordan Staal gains the blue line on the left wing and feeds it to Nick Johnson streaking towards the net. Johnson gets behind McDonagh. Fending off a hook from McDonah, Johnson is able to sneaks a little wrister by the glove hand of Lundqvist. Staal and Dupuis get assists. Rangers coach John Tortorella calls a time out to get his team settled. Penguins 2-0.
14:17: Off a faceoff win, Marc Staal tosses a wrister on net from the top of the slot. Brian Boyle re-directs it with his backland and knocks it by Fleury on the far side. What an effort by Boyle. Staal gets the only assist. Penguins 2-1.
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11:46: Anisimov has a wrister from the left circle blocked by Letang.
11:40: Anisimov is denied in tight by Fleury. Avery and Letang mix it up. Letang is sent off for hooking against Avery. Huh? Okay. Staal, Maxime Talbot, Orpik and Michalek take the ice.
11:01: As the Staals are brothers...:
x1.
...Jordan dekes by Wojtek Wolski and approaches the net shorhanded. He appears to have Lundqvist beat but puts his wrister wide to the left side of the cage.
10:40: Tie game. Another goal off another body in front. Girardi chucks a wrister from the top of the slot. Callahan is able to re-direct the puck by Fleury's blocker. Two nice re-direction goals by the Rangers. Girardi and Wolski get assists. Penguins 2, Rangers 2.
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8:34: Dubinsky is nabbed for holding Engelland and high sticking Rupp. Big opportunity here for the Penguins. Jordan Staal, Tyler Kennedy, Brett Sterling, Kris Letang and Alex Goligoski take the ice.
8:07: Letang chops a slapper from the right point. It sneaks through traffic and is eaten up by Lundqvist.
6:05: On a forecheck, Brandon Prust (6-foot-2, 192 pounds) collides with Sterling (5-foot-7, 175) and goes down like he were hit by someone or something with more size. Like bus.
5:05: Paul Martin chops a slapper from the left point. Lundqvist eats it up.
4:44: Dupuis cranks a slapper from the right half wall. Marc Staal leans down and blocks it.
4:34: The second of Dubinsky's minors expire. That was a wasted chance for the Penguins.
4:32: Boyle pushes a puck up the right wing and has his legs choped out by Dupuis. That's two minutes for tripping. Adams, Talbot, Orpik and Michalek take the ice.
3:13:
x2.
2:32: The Dupuis minor is killed. Nice effort by the Penguins.
2:11: Fleury stops a shot by Michael Sauer from the right point.
1:57: Just what the Penguins needed. Another injury. Tim Wallace and Chris Conner accidently collide in the offensive zone. Wallace goes down and skates one leg to the Penguins' bench. Yeesh.
0:48: Talbot lifts a wrister from the left circle.
0:39: Letang tees ups a slapper from the right point. It hits something on the way and clinks off the far post.
0:00: End of period. Penguins 2, Rangers 2.
FIRST INTERMISSION
-That was a pretty entertaining period of hockey. Lots of back and forth action. Plenty of hitting.
-The Penguins had a great start obviously. The Rangers had a tremendous response.
-The Penguins' power play was weark, clearly, in the first period. But what can you really expect from the talent they have available to them?
-Shots are even, 10-10.
-Conner and Letang each lead the game with two shots.
-Marc Staal leads the game with 8:55 of ice time.
-Goligoski leads the Penguins with 8:37.
-Faceoffs are even, 11-11 (50 percent).
-Prospal is 5 for 7 (71 percent).
-Rupp and Talbot are each 3 for 5 (60 percent).
-Girardi leads the game with three blocked shots.
SECOND PERIOD
18:27: The Penguins gets a little sloppy in their own zone and the Rangers strike. Dubinsky fights off a check from Letang and deals a backhanded pass from the left of the cage to the slot. Prospal is all alone in the slot and buries it by Fleury's left leg. Jordan Staal was horribly out of position for that goal. Dubinsky and Gaborik get assists. Rangers 3-2.
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15:40: Kennedy pounds a slapper from the right wing. Lundqvist punches it out to the slot. Dupuis is there for for the rebound.
14:53: Jordan Staal kneels down and snaps off a wrister from the slot. Lundqvist fights it off.
13:49: Orpik upends Christensen at the Rangers' blue line.
13:32: Mike Civik takes a spill in front of the Rangers' bench after having Zuccarello run into him. As he slowly recovers to his feet, Prust goes after Orpik. Prust, who drew a match penalty in the last meeting between these two teams when acted like Glass Joe after being socked by Jordan Staal, takes a few punches at Orpik. No call. If you don't recall the Staal-Prust fight:
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10:33: On a bad line change by the Penguins, Boyle leads a three-on-one against Michalek. Instead of making a pass, he snaps off a weak wrister from the the right circle.
10:20: Sterling is sent off for high sticking Callahan. Did he step on a phone book to do that? Orpik, Michalek, Staal and Dupuis take the ice.
8:56: And the Rangers's strike. Marc Staal keeps ap uck in at the left point. Callahan takes a pass above the left circle and pounds a slapper. It deflects off the stick of Letang and bets Fleury on the near side. Dubinsky had a wonderful screen on the Fleury there who appeared a little lost. Staal and Derek Stepan get assists. The Rangers still have a Rangers 4-2.
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6:56: Sterling's second minor expires.
6:39: Prust is denied in tight by Fleury's left leg. A goal there and the game is over.
5:57: Boyle gets denied from the left circle by Fleury on a nice wrister he tries to corral the wrister but is tripped up by Goligoski. Boyle went down like a fir tree on that one and sold it a bit. Talbot, Adams, Orpik and Michalek take the ice.
4:37: And this game is pretty much over. Callahan snaps off a wrister from deep on the right wing. Fleury fights it off to the slot. Anisimov jumps on it and punches it off Fleury's right shoulder and into the cage. Sloppy play by Fleury. Callaahan gets the lone assist. Rangers 5-2.
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3:18: The Penguins need one badly here. Stepan is nabbed for high sticking Talbot. Kennedy, Sterling, Jordan Staal, Goligoski and Letang take the ice.
1:28: Nick Johnson controls a puck on the left wing and zips a cross ice pass to Letang sneaking in off the right point. Letang rips a wrister. Letang eats it up.
1:18: The Stepan penalty is killed.
0:44: Stepan punches a shot on net from the right circle. Fleury knocks it down and covers.
0:00: End of period. Rangers 5, Penguins 2.
SECOND INTERMISSION
-The Penguins' one last bastion of strength has finally fallen apart. The penalty kill has been dreadful for the Penguins. And it's surprising since the Rangers had so many issues as of late on the power play.
-Discipline once again has gone out the window for the Penguins.
-Fleury has not been sharp.
-How key was that timeout by Tortorella after the second Penguins goal?
-Wallace returned to the game in the second period.
-The Rangers have a 26-20 lead in shots.
-Anisimov leads the game with four.
-Letang leads the Penguins with three.
-Girardi leads the game with 16:38.
-Goligoski leads the game with 15:48.
-The Rangers lead the game in faceoffs, 22-18 (55 percent).
-Prospal is 8 for 14 (57 percent).
-Rupp is 3 for 5 (60 percent).
-Girardi lead the game with six shots.
-Engelland and Letang each lead the Penguins with three.
THIRD PERIOD
17:58:
x2.
17:24: Anisimov snaps off a wrister from the right circle. Fleury fights it off.
16:02: The Penguins get a break. Callahan is called for holding Craig behind the Rangers' net. Sterling, Jordan Staal, Kennedy, Letang and Goligoski take the ice.
14:48: And the Penguins cash in finally. Goligoski sneaks up the left wing and deals a pass do the slot. Sterling is there. He takes the pass, turns and pulls the trigger on a wrister. It hits a stick and flutter up oby the left shoulder of Lundqvist. Jordan Staal had a wonderful screen on that play. Lundqvist was blind on that shot. Goligoski and Letang get assists. Rangers 5-3.
12:15: Letang picks up a loose puck in the neutral zone, zips up the right wing and snaps off a wrister. Lundqvist says no.
11:56: Boyle gets a step on the left wing and flips a little backhander on net. Fleury fights it off.
11:06: Jordan Staal labors to the bench in discomfort.
10:31: The Penguins get another power play as Kennedy gets clipped with a high stick. Sauer is called for a double minor as he drew blood. Jordan Staal, Kennedy, Sterling, Letang and Goligoski take the ice.
9:49: Kennedy rips a wrister from the right circle. Lundqvist juuuuust gets a piece of it.
8:25: Michalek pounds a slapper from the right point. Lundqvist fight it off.
8:01: Michalek blasts another slapper from the top of the slot. Lundqvist makes the save and allows a rebound. Nick Johnson is there for the rebound but can't cleanly handle it.
6:31: The Sauer minor is killed. Good effort by the Rangers.
2:25: After several stagnant minutes, Orpik busts out the crazy eyes coming out of a commercial break:
2:01: Jordan Staal snaps off a wrister from the slot. Marc Staal reaches out with his stick to block it.
1:45: Fleury is pulled for an extra attacker.
1:07: Fleury is pulled again after rejoining play with a faceoff in the Penguins' zone.
0:05: Gaborik backhands a shot from neutral ice wide of the cage.
0:00: End of game. Rangers 5, Penguins 3.
POSTGAME
-That was a pretty sloppy loss by the Penguins regardless of their roster issues. They had this game in control early on. They had Lundqvist flustered. The Rangers call a simple time out and take everything back.
-The penalty kill was a failure today. That was one part of the Penguins' game they could routinely count on regardless of injuries and it fell apart.
-Fleury wasn't sharp. This was his worst effort in more than a few months.
-When you have Tyler Kennedy and Brett Sterling on your first power play unit, we're not sure if there's any point analyzing it.
Give the Rangers credit. They called that time out, got focused and took back the game.
-Brian Boyle has turned himself into a really good player.
-The Rangers had a 31-29 lead in shots.
-Anisimov and Letang each led the game with five shots.
-Girardi led the game with 27:36 of ice time.
-Goligoski led the Penguins with 25:31.
-The Rangers controlled faceoffs, 30-20 (60 percent).
-Boyle was 11 for 18 (61 percent).
-Rupp was 4 for 7 (57 percent).
-Girardi led the game with seven blocked shots.
-Goligoski, Engelland and Letang each led the game with three blocked shots.
-Staal passed Rick Tocchet for 38th place on the team's all-time scoring list. Both players have 179 points but Staal (89) has more goals than Tocchet (76).
-Dupuis passed up Andy Bathgate and Dick Tarnstrom for 76th place. All three have 103 points but Dupuis (42) has more goals than Bathgate (35) and Tarnstrom (28).