Rangers Turn About, Jolt Penguins 4-2

Refusing to play the role of postseason patsy, the New York Rangers walloped the Pittsburgh Penguins with a Game 2 counterpunch yesterday afternoon at Consol Energy Center.

The result?

A brisk 4-2 Rangers win. Not to mention a knotted up Eastern Conference quarterfinals matchup with the venue shifting to the unfriendly confines of Madison Square Garden for Games 3 and 4. And a harsh dose of playoff reality for our Pens.

So much for any thoughts of a sweep…or an easy series.

Give New York credit. Borrowing a page from the Penguins’ book, the Rangers employed a smothering forecheck to take away time and space. They leaned on the smaller Pens but plenty, outhitting the black and gold 57 to 25—including a whopping 22-4 in the first period. And they capitalized on opportunities.

Most important, they received superb goaltending from Henrik Lundqvist—who rebounded from a freak Game 1 injury to stop 29 shots—while exposing Pens super sub Jeff Zatkoff.

In stark contrast the series opener when his heroics stole the show, Zatkoff was merely mortal. In particular, he yielded a crusher of a goal to Chris Kreider on a stoppable low wrister just 39 seconds into the third period.

Still, for a time it appeared things might go the Pens’ way. Following a scoreless first period, Phil Kessel struck on the power play early in the second stanza to stake the home team to a 1-0 lead. Given how the Penguins had dominated second periods during the regular season—and how well Zatkoff played through the first 30 minutes—they had reason to feel confident.

The magic dust soon wore off. Thanks to a defensive-zone lapse, Pittsburgh native J. T. Miller (three assists) found teammate Keith Yandle sneaking in the back door at 12:38 with a nice cross-ice pass. Zatkoff had no chance.

With disturbing swiftness, the locals unraveled. On the ensuing rush, Derick Brassard got a step on Olli Maatta and beat Zatkoff to the wide-open stick side. Suddenly, it was 2-1 Rangers.

Minutes later Mats Zuccarello slipped through the right circle undetected and converted another made-to-order feed from Miller for the eventual game winner. Sandwiched between tallies, Lundqvist stopped Bryan Rust cold on a breakaway.

Then came Kreider’s coffin-sealer early in the final frame.

Down 4-1, all the Pens could do was make a statement for Game 3. Kessel notched his second power-play goal of the afternoon to pare New York’s lead to two. Chris Kunitz whacked hulking Marc Staal with his stick and swapped punches with Kevin Klein.

Coach Mike Sullivan yanked Zatkoff with three minutes left as the Pens pressed furiously for a game-changing goal. Lundqvist was up to the task, snuffing out a volley of shots from point-blank range.

“When you’re playing in the playoffs, you can’t get too low when something bad happens,” noted Pens defenseman Ben Lovejoy. “You have to find a way to get past it. We spiraled a little bit out of control for five, six minutes, and that was the big difference in the game.”

Malkin and Rust Return

Superstar Evgeni Malkin returned to the lineup for Game 2, along with the energetic Rust. Justin Schultz and Oskar Sundqvist joined Derrick Pouliot in the press box as healthy scratches.

Although Malkin betrayed few ill effects from an injury that kept him sidelined for over a month, he seemed a bit tentative. Indeed, the big center failed to register a shot five on five for the first time since November 21. Still, Geno finished second in ice time to Sidney Crosby (19:29) and assisted on the Pens’ second goal.

Rust played just over six minutes. The speedy Michigan native had been out since March 29 with an unspecified lower-body injury.