Penguins Edge Rangers, 5-4
Posted April 25, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Evgeni Malkin’s power-play goal with 1:41 to go in the third period Friday night lifted the Pittsburgh Penguins to an entertaining 5-4 win over New York in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference semifinal, capping a wild night that saw the visiting Rangers cough up a 3-0 lead.
Petr Sykora, Marian Hossa, Pascal Dupuis and Jarkko Ruutu also scored for the Penguins but it was superstar Sidney Crosby that starred on this night. No. 87 had two assists and was a threat on every shift. His slap shot from the point deflected off Malkin’s shin pads and in for the winner, Crosby’s arms raising to the shaking rafters in celebration.
Scott Gomez, Martin Straka, Chris Drury and Sean Avery scored for the Rangers, who will kick themselves for letting this one get away. Jaromir Jagr two assists in his first playoff game in Pittsburgh since leaving town seven years ago.
Henrik Lundqvist stopped 21 of 26 shots while Marc-Andre Fleury made 20 saves on 24 shots – neither goalie having a night to remember.
Game 2 goes Sunday (2 p.m. ET).
Playing their first home game in exactly two weeks, the Penguins were greeted to the ice by a boisterous, sellout crowd of 17,132 all wearing white. The old Winnipeg Jets “white-out” was apparently at the urging of Sid The Kid. Not only does he do it all on the ice but now he’s influencing the game presentation staff.
His team came out hard, the nine-day layoff not looking like a factor. Only a superb pad save by Lundqvist on Ryan Malone in the early stages kept the game scoreless. The Rangers didn’t get their first shot on goal until 8:45.
Then they got a break, scoring on their third shot on goal when Straka’s pass in front deflected off Penguins defenceman Sergei Gonchar and in for a power-play goal at 13:40. The Rangers had no business being ahead but now they were looking confident.
It carried into the second period, Drury doubling his team’s lead 1:52 into the frame with a deflection that needed video review. Just 1:45 later Avery completely silenced the crowd when he broke in on a 2-on-1 and beat Fleury under his right arm with a wrist shot that probably should have been stopped. It was 3-0 and the home fans were stunned.
But Pittsburgh’s answer to Avery got his team in the game, Ruutu bouncing a pass off Rangers blue-liner Michal Rozsival at 8:13. The fans were still on their feet when Dupuis scored 14 seconds later, rifling a one-timer top corner after a perfect backhand feed from Crosby.
The Penguins now smelled blood and they didn’t hold back. They came out like guns a blazing in the third period and it paid off at 4:40 when Hossa’s pass attempt deflected off Scott Gomez and through Lundqvist’s five-hole.
It was bedlam at Mellon Arena and it was about to get even louder. Just 20 seconds after the Hossa goal Pittsburgh took its first lead of the game, Sykora polishing off a cross-crease pass from Malkin with a tap-in goal. Four unanswered goals by the Penguins and the Rangers looked like they had no answer.
Then a former Penguin had a clutch shift, Jagr powering into the Pittsburgh zone and backhanding a pass from behind the net that found a Gomez one-timer that beat Fleury top corner on the glove side at 10:04. Tie game and a great one at that.
The Penguins got the winner on a power play that resulted from a Straka interference penalty, the Czech veteran slowing down Crosby – who else.
Notes: Penguins veteran winger Gary Roberts (groin) missed his third straight game, deciding after the morning skate that he wasn’t yet ready to return. Adam Hall once again took his spot in the lineup. Kris Beech, Jeff Taffe and Darryl Sydor were healthy scratches … The Rangers dressed tough guy Colton Orr for the first time in the playoffs. He bumped Ryan Hollweg out of the lineup. Marek Malik, Petr Prucha and Jason Strudwick were also scratches … Pittsburgh is 3-0 all-time in playoff series with the Rangers, defeating them in 1989, ’92 and ’96 … The Rangers took home 10 points (5-3-0) during the eight-game series in the regular season while Pittsburgh picked up eight (3-3-2).
Photo credit: Bruce Bennett/Getty Images
