Crosby shoots and scores; Penguins seize momentum
Sidney Crosby celebrates after scoring a goal Saturday night. Crosby scored one goal in his previous 19 playoff games.
The Rangers’ Ryan McDonagh and Sidney Crosby of the Penguins fight for the puck during the first period of Game 2 Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. Crosby scored two second-period goals, including one on a diving shot, to help Pittsburgh even the first-round series, 1-1.
PITTSBURGH – Sidney Crosby is shooting the puck. Even more importantly for the Pittsburgh Penguins, it’s going in. Funny how success seems to follow when that happens.
The Penguins evened their series against the New York Rangers with a momentum-shifting 4-3 victory Saturday night. Crosby scored twice, including a diving deflection off a centering pass from Chris Kuntiz that gave the Penguins the lead and the hope their late-season fade is now a thing of the past.
Heading into tonight’s Game 3, Pittsburgh has momentum and – perhaps just as importantly – a much-needed infusion of swagger.
“You’re going into New York, you obviously want to go there and get one win and we did that,” forward Brandon Sutter said. “So, we got the split we wanted. But obviously, there’s a lot of work left to be done and we definitely need to have some confidence and belief that it’s a team we can beat.”
Having Crosby do what he does better than just about anyone else certainly helps.
“We need him to be a threat offensively, and he’s been that through two games,” Sutter said. “He’s had the puck a lot. When he has the puck down low and he’s spinning in the corners, that’s when he’s so dominant and he was big .”
It will take more than Crosby, however, for Pittsburgh to upset the Presidents’ Trophy winners. Evgeni Malkin has just four shots through two games and hasn’t recorded a goal in six weeks. The 2012 MVP said he’s maybe “85-90” percent because of an undisclosed injury but isn’t looking for an excuse.
“I feel pretty good, but I can play better,” Malkin said. “I need more confidence. Shoot the puck more, play with the puck, work hard and the goals and points will come.”
The Rangers had the NHL’s best road record, going 28-11-2. In fact, they had a better road mark than they did at Madison Square Garden; seven teams had as many points or more than did New York at home.
Now, they’ll need at least one win in Pittsburgh in this first-round series. They split two games at Pittsburgh, losing 3-2 in a strange shootout in which they had a goal disallowed, then winning, 5-2.
“It’s important in the playoffs to make sure you can play in a home building and in a road building,” Derek Stepan said. “We have to make sure we get ourselves refocused and get ourselves ready for Game 3.”
The Rangers won Game 1 by making Crosby virtually invisible and keeping Malkin out of the danger zone. On Saturday, both of them and the Penguins as a whole showed more jump, possessing the puck and keeping New York off-balance. Forcing turnovers in the decisive second period, shutting down the Rangers’ power play and generally controlling the pace, the Penguins got even.
“You play well, that’s all you want,” Crosby said. “We wanted to make sure we went home with one.”
Crosby, naturally, was at the center of the turnaround. He broke a 1-1 tie by knocking in a rebound of Patric Hornqvist’s shot in the second period. Then Crosby made a diving deflection past Henrik Lundqvist of a pass from Chris Kunitz on the right wing boards following a Rangers giveaway in their zone.
At that point, Crosby had four shots on goal in the series, with two going in.
“There’s always pressure to score,” said Crosby, who had 28 goals and 84 points this season
The Rangers have not won a home Game 2 since beating Vancouver in the 1994 Stanley Cup Finals.
Marc-Andre Fleury finished with 23 saves for the Penguins, while Lundqvist had 18.
The resilient Rangers got back in it early in the third period on, of all things, their previously sputtering power play. Derick Brassard knocked in a rebound from short range after strong pressure with Blake Comeau penalized early in the third.
Derek Stepan hit the goal post on the first shot of another power play less than three minutes later. And while killing a penalty, Martin St. Louis and Carl Hagelin both couldn’t get to a loose puck behind Fleury in the crease.
On that same power play, Kunitz made it 4-2, sweeping in the rebound of Brandon Sutter’s short shot.
“I thought our second power-play unit was effective for us when it was out there,” Penguins coach Mike Johnston said.
Rick Nash scored with 5.1 seconds to go for New York.
The Rangers opened the scoring in the first period. While the Rangers’ power play struggled, Sutter nearly tied it midway in the second with a short-handed wrist shot that clanged off the goal post. Then he did tie it with a rebound off a deflection on a Pittsburgh power play.
Special teams were critical, of course, with Pittsburgh going 2-for-4 on power plays, New York 1 for 7.
“You have to save you energy to kill penalties off,” Crosby said when asked if the Penguins were getting frustrated by so many calls against them. “It’s not worth wasting your energy.”
Nash recognized the Rangers’ urgent need to pick up the power-play production.
“I think we were overpassing a bit tonight,” he said. “It didn’t seem like we were getting enough looks, enough shots there in the shot lanes, and we weren’t working to get through the shot lanes and get the shots on net.”