Rangers

Pens score thrice in the third and defeat Rangers 6-5

Posted on by Adam Rotter in Rangers

Jesper Fast missed the game with the flu. Neal Pionk was held out for the third period as a precaution because he took a stick to the eye. (NYR)

1st Period

16:11 Pittsburgh Kris Letang (14) ASST: Sidney Crosby (45) 0-1
19:20 New York PPG – Mats Zuccarello (10) ASST: Kevin Hayes (28), Kevin Shattenkirk (15) 1-1

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2nd Period

11:41 Pittsburgh PPG – Marcus Pettersson (2) ASST: Nick Bjugstad (10), Justin Schultz (6) 1-2
14:09 Pittsburgh Brian Dumoulin (2) ASST: Sidney Crosby (46), Marcus Pettersson (16) 1-3
14:35 New York Mats Zuccarello (11) ASST: Mika Zibanejad (32), Chris Kreider (20) 2-3
17:45 New York Ryan Strome (8) 3-3

3rd Period

04:36 Pittsburgh Kris Letang (15) ASST: Sidney Crosby (47), Jake Guentzel (26) 3-4
07:24 Pittsburgh Evgeni Malkin (17) ASST: Phil Kessel (40), Zach Aston-Reese (6) 3-5
09:55 Pittsburgh Evgeni Malkin (18) ASST: Zach Aston-Reese (7), Phil Kessel (41) 3-6
14:14 New York Kevin Hayes (14) ASST: Tony DeAngelo (13), Marc Staal (10) 4-6
19:42 New York Mika Zibanejad (26) ASST: Kevin Shattenkirk (16) 5-6

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

  • The game was going to be decided, one way or the other, with that early PP the Rangers had. They didn’t score, the Pens grabbed momentum, Kris Letang moved around Chytil scored to take the lead.
  • The Pens kept things going, Malkin scored twice and the Rangers fell down 6-3.
  • The Rangers did keep battling though with Hayes scoring and then Zibanejad with less than a minute left to make the score closer.
  • Mats Zuccarello certainly took advantage of being on National TV and was all over the place and scoresheet. We are just about at the point where the Rangers will start to consider holding Zuccarello, Hayes and Adam McQuaid out of the lineup to preserve their health. I think it’s likely that Hayes and Zuccarello play Tuesday and Thursday but not the back to back on the weekend….if they are even still on the team at that point. McQuaid is a different story and I think it’s possible he has played his last game with the Rangers for this season. Maybe he slots in Tuesday but his style of play often leads to him getting banged up and the Rangers will want to prevent that.