Road warrior Rangers roll over Penguins
PITTSBURGH— There is nothing poetic or necessarily pretty about the way the New York Rangers play, particularly on the road.
The Rangers grind. They play defence. They block shots.
They make opponents pay for mistakes. It’s a formula that led New York to the league’s best record, one they returned to while restoring order in their first-round series with the Pittsburgh Penguins.
Choking off the passing lanes and the open ice where Penguins’ stars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin thrive, New York built an early lead behind goals from Carl Hagelin and Chris Kreider then held on for a 2-1 win in Game 3 on Monday night to take a 2-1 series lead.
Game 4 is Wednesday in Pittsburgh.
“You come into this building and you know they’re going to play well,” Hagelin said. “It’s a great atmosphere. But we found a way. We wanted to win this game, and we did.”
Patric Hornqvist scored his third career playoff goal for the Penguins and Marc-Andre Fleury stopped 24 shots but Pittsburgh couldn’t overcome another slow start.
The Penguins managed just 11 shots through the first two periods and didn’t generate anything resembling consistent pressure on New York’s Henrik Lundqvist until they were well behind.
Lundqvist finished with 23 saves, including a dozen in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought we overpassed the puck early in the game for sure,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Johnston said. “We came in and we had the pass back instead of the shot ahead. You can’t look. You can’t wait. It’s got to be right to the net.”
The shots haven’t come often enough early enough for Pittsburgh, which has been outscored 4-0 in the opening period through three games, though that’s nothing new for teams that face New York. The Rangers paced the NHL in first-period goals (84) and first-period goal differential (plus-30) during a regular season in which they claimed the Presidents’ Trophy and tied the record for most road wins by an Eastern Conference team (28).
“I think our style permits us to play well on the road at times with the way we control the puck,” New York defenceman Ryan McDonagh said. “(We) make sure that we don’t give teams good opportunities and good looks and keep the crowd out of it.”
Pittsburgh had evened the series on Saturday night with a vintage performance they believed was a revival, not a last hurrah.
“Our desperation level was much higher in the third,” Crosby said. “You saw the difference in our game and our play . . . but you have to find that level of desperation for the entire game.”