Thursday 16 April 2015

New York Rangers beat the Penguins in first play off game (lead the series 1 - 0)

Tonight was the first New York Rangers game of the 2015 Stanley Cup Play Offs. The first round is against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

Things started well with the Rangers taking a 1 - 0 lead after 28 seconds with Derick Brassard tapping in a Rick Nash rebound. Sadly the New York Rangers power play was as effective as ever resulting in on additional goal LOL. Sadly the Penguins were trying to play a dirty game. Rangers upped the pace on their next power play opportunity. Sadly it still ended 0 for 2! A third power play took the Rangers 2 - 0 up with Ryan McDonagh scoring at 15:16. Fourth power play yielded nothing. First period ended with the Rangers leading 2 - 0. Shots on goal were NYR 13 and PIT 5.

Second period started a little more cautious with the Penguins having calmed down a bit to stay out of the box. They soon upped the ante though and after a mad scramble in front of Lundqvist the Penguins had made it 2 - 1. It was back and forth after that but the Penguins seemed to have the upper hand. The Rangers successfully killed off a penalty after Nash was called for boarding. Second period ended with the Rangers leading 2 - 1. Shots on goal were NYR 14 (27) and PIT 11 (16).

A one goal lead is better than none but I'd have preferred a bigger comfort zone heading into the third. Both teams were a little more cagey at in the beginning as neither wanted to be on the back foot. Once again the Rangers power play failed to come up with anything. The Rangers were really making hard work of things which was disappointing. With five minutes left it was a bit tense! Two minutes left and the Penguins are ready to pull Fleury for the extra skater but the could get him off until there was just 01:20 left. Third period ended with the Rangers winning the game 2 - 1. Shots on goal were NYR 11 (38) and PIT 9 (25). It wasn't pretty to watch and the Rangers made real hard work of it but a win is a win and the Rangers lead the series 1 - 0.

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