First Period:
- Brock McGinn (1) Assists: Jason Zucker (1)
- Kaapo Kakko (1) Assists: Alexis Lafreniere (1), Filip Chytil (1)
- Jeff Carter (1) (Power Play) Assists: Mike Matheson (2), Evan Rodrigues (1)
- Evan Rodrigues (1) (Power Play) Assists: Mike Matheson (3), Louis Domingue (1)
Second Period:
- Frank Vatrano (2) Assists: Chris Kreider (2), Mika Zibanejad (3)
- Artemi Panarin (2) Assists: Adam Fox (2), Ryan Strome (2)
- Andrew Copp (3) (Shorthanded) Assists: Kevin Rooney (1)
Third Period:
- Danton Heinen (1) Unassisted
- Jake Guentzel (4) Assists: Mike Matheson (4), Sidney Crosby (4)
- Jeff Carter (2) Assists: Brock McGinn (1), Sidney Crosby (5)
Stats:
Adam Rotter:
- For all that happened in this game, and it was a lot, tonight’s result boils down to the fact that the Rangers had three straight power plays in a tie game and couldn’t convert. The PP has saved the Rangers so many times this season and while they had some chances, they needed to convert to take the lead, they didn’t and they lost.
- This was sort of like Game 1 with the scoreboard being dominated in the first by one team and the second by the other. That said, the Rangers were the better team throughout most of this game. They had chances in the first and missed the net, they thoroughly dominated the second period and they had a good start to the third, but once the Penguins took the lead, Pittsburgh raised their game, started to play a lot more in the Rangers end and closed it out.
- In the battle of backup goalies in a tied third period, Louis Domingue made a few phenomenal saves and so did Alex Georgiev, but then Georgiev let one in that he shouldn’t have and that was the difference. Georgiev had been pretty good since coming in, but he can’t let in a goal like that.
- The Nemeth/Schneider pairing had a rough night, but there are no changes coming on defense unless Ryan Lindgren gets healthy enough to play.
- This did feel like it could have been a game where the Rangers found a way to win, but their magic seemed to run out tonight. It’s still a very close series and will probably go 6-7 games, but the Rangers really need to tighten up and play a smarter game consistently. Again, the Rangers were tied midway through the third period in a game where their MVP struggled and was pulled and their PP couldn’t convert. They were one bounce from taking a lead in the third and possibly coming out of this with a 2-1 lead. They fought back tonight and fought back from being down 1-0 in the series to tie it. All they need to do is tighten a few things up and then bank on their MVP returning somewhat to form and their PP converting like it has all year and they get to go home tied 2-2. Neither team has jumped out in a big way without then coming back down, so until one team dominates for 60 minutes we will probably keep seeing these see-saw games.
- Game 4 is Monday in Pittsburgh.