Sunday, April 17, 2016
Associated Press
PITTSBURGH
Henrik Lundqvist’s right eye is just fine, thanks.
So too are the New York Rangers with their franchise goaltender back to looking like the foundation for New York’s near annual deep postseason run.
Three days removed from a freakish run-in between his face and teammate Marc Staal’s stick, Lundqvist looked like his ever steady self while making 29 saves and the Rangers took advantage of some sloppy defensive play by Pittsburgh in a 4-2 victory on Saturday that evened their Eastern Conference quarterfinal series at one game.
Lundqvist sat out the final two periods of a Game 1 setback after Staal’s stick made its way through the goaltender’s cage, scraping Lundqvist’s right eye.
He saw a specialist on Thursday, practiced on Friday and spent three periods on Saturday doing what he always seems to do this time of year.
“When you know there’s nothing wrong with the eye, you know you can just go out there and just push yourself and whatever is feeling uncomfortable, you don’t really think about it when the game starts,” Lundqvist said. “You just want to be out there and you’re very determined.”
Lundqvist kept the surging Penguins — boosted by the return of center Evgeni Malkin — at bay for most of the first 30 minutes then saw his team pounce when Pittsburgh went through the kind of lull it largely avoided while ending the regular season with a 14-2 burst.
Keith Yandle and Derick Brassard scored 18 seconds apart in the second period to give the Rangers the lead and Mats Zuccarello and Chris Kreider piled on later as New York improved to 6-2 since the start of the 2014 playoffs in the game immediately following a loss.
J.T. Miller (East Palestine) added three assists as the Rangers handed Pittsburgh just its third loss since March 6.
Game 3 is Tuesday in New York.
Phil Kessel scored his first two playoff goals in three years. Backup goaltender Jeff Zatkoff made 24 stops while making a second consecutive start in place of injured Marc-Andre Fleury, but was undone by some shaky play in front of him.
“When our team is at its best, we’ve been defending really well,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think a couple of the goals were uncharacteristic of this group.”
One that had one of its biggest pieces in place with Malkin’s familiar No. 71 in the lineup. He was supposed to be out 6 to 8 weeks after injuring his left arm against Columbus on March 11.
He made it back a good week earlier than even the most optimistic projections, returning another dynamic piece to the league’s hottest team.
Malkin finished with an assist in 18:57 of ice time but looked reticent to shoot while toggling between lines, including an occasional pairing with Sidney Crosby.
“Everything is fine but I need a little bit more confidence,” Malkin said. “It’s pretty hard but I’m fine. I’m still positive.”
Pittsburgh led at the midway point on Kessel’s power-play goal 3:21 into the second before the next 10 minutes changed the direction of the series.