Postgame: Pittsburgh 5 Rangers 2
Update: 10:30PM: The following quotes are from the Rangers:
John Tortorella on tonight’s game…
“I thought we played better defensively, first of all. I thought we had the puck more. We generated some offense. It is discouraging. I thought there were a lot of good things for a lot of minutes of that game. Right now we are just not figuring out how to win it at key times. We need another big play, another big defensive play, another big offensive play, another big save. That is the fine line between winning and losing in this league and right now we are not getting it done.Marian Gaborik on the positives of the game…
“I don’t think we gave them much. We gave them a couple of power plays. I think we had a lot of chances, quality chances. That is what we have to take out of this game.”Chris Drury on tonight’s game…
“I thought we did a lot of good things throughout the game. It’s really a frustrating loss. Hopefully we can take some good things from it, get a good week of practice and get ready for Buffalo.”
Original Recap: For a recap and stats, visit SNY.tv
Scoring Summary
No Scoring In The First Period
Second Period:
-3:12: Marian Gaborik (20) opens the scoring as he knocked in the his own rebound. Assisted by Vinny Prospal (20) and Marc Staal (8)
-3:23- Sidney Crosby (16) raced down the ice and fired a back-hander past Henrik Lundqvist to tie the game at 1. Bill Guerin (11) and Sergei Gonchar (10) picked up the assists.
-7:33- Mike Rupp (6) gave Pittsburgh a lead as he put in his own rebound off a pass from Jordan Staal (9).
-18:42- Gaborik (21) tied the game with his second of the game on the powerplay, from Chris Drury (7) and Michael Del Zotto (12)
Third Period
-11:14-Rupp (7) gave the Pens the lead as he rushed up the ice with the puck and beat Lundqvist with a wrist shot.
-15:51- Crosby (17) deflected a shot past Lundqvist for his second of the game and a 4-2 Pitt lead. Assisted by Mark Eaton and Martin Skoula
-18:20-Rupp (8) added an empty net goal to complete his first career hat-trick.
Statistics
-Henrik Lundqvist stopped 28 of 32 shots
-Marc-Andre Fleury made 29 saves on 31 shots
-The Rangers were out-shot 33 to 31
-Gaborik had seven shots in addition to his two goals.
-Christopher Higgins had two shots and was a minus 4 tonight
-Both P.A. Parenteau and Artem Anisimov were minus 3
-Bobby Sanguinetti played 11:20, his first game at MSG
-Marc Staal led the team with close to 26 minutes of ice time
-Ales Kotalik played 3:14 in the game. No time on the powerplay. The least of any Ranger player
-The Rangers had 13 takeaways, compared to Pittsburgh’s five.
-Drury won 10 and lost 15 faceoffs tonight. Artem Anisimov went 7 and 10. Vinny Prospal went 6 and 7
Penalties
-The Rangers took five minor penalties. They were 5 for 5 on the penalty kill.
-The Rangers went 1 for 3 on the powerplay.
The Rangers next game is Saturday against Buffalo
More game notes after the jump
- The Rangers were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, in front of a sold-out crowd (18,200) at Madison Square Garden.
- New York have sold out 169 consecutive regular season games, dating back to Nov. 5, 2005 against New Jersey; the last regular season non-sellout was Oct. 31, 2005 vs. Montreal (17,697); including the playoffs, the Rangers sellout streak is now at 183 games.
- The Rangers are now 13-13-1 (27 pts.) on the season and 7-6-0 at home; in their last 22 regular season games at MSG, New York are 15-7-0, and have out-scored their opponents, 76-52, during the stretch.
- The Blueshirts notched one goal in three power play opportunities to improve to 14-48 (29.2%) at MSG with the man advantage.
- Marian Gaborik tallied two goals in the game, including one on the power play, to improve his league-leading goal total to 21 on the season; this marks his sixth career 20-plus goal season. He also registered a game-high seven shots in 22:23 of icetime.
- Chris Drury collected a power play assist on Gaborik’s second goal of the game; the Rangers Captain has registered three assists/points in the last four games after missing the previous five to injury.
- Marc Staal recorded one assist to extend his point streak to three games (one goal and two assists); he finished with five hits and led all skaters with 25:58 of icetime.
- Rookie defenseman Michael Del Zotto tallied one power play assist and delivered a game-high six hits; entering tonight’s contest, he ranked third among NHL rookies in hits (56) and tied for fourth in points (five goals and 16 points).
- Vinny Prospal recorded an assist on Gaborik’s goal at 3:12 of the second period; he now has four points (one goal and three assists) in the last three games at MSG.
