Friday night gave Pittsburgh and Chicago opportunities to put their series in a strangle hold. Neither team took advantage of the opportunity.
Pittsburgh had a chance to close out their series in front of their home fans at the Consol Energy Center. Coming into the game, the Penguins have out scored the Rangers 9-2 in their last three contests. With their backs against the wall down 3-1 in the series, the New York Rangers understood that this game was a must win.
Henrik Lundqvist was superb in net, and anchored the Rangers to a dominating victory, as the series moves back to the Garden.
Half way through the opening period Robert Bortuzzo took a bad penalty for the Penguins by putting the puck in the crowd. Chris Kreider would take advantage and wristed a shot past Marc-Andre Fleury. The Rangers weren’t done scoring, Derick Brassard would add to it, putting his backhand shot in the back of the net. Brassard has just dominated the Penguins this season, scoring five goals and three assists.
“I don’t have an answer for you,” Brassard said when asked why he’s had so much success against the Penguins. “We’re just playing. We don’t put any pressure on ourselves. I think it helps that we’re great friends off the ice. There’s no pressure when we play together. Everything’s positive. We needed to step up [in Game 5]. I don’t think the last two games … we were OK. We didn’t play bad but we were nothing special. We just tried to play hard [Friday]. We had some lucky bounces and we made some plays.”
Evgeni Malkin would get the Penguins back in the game, early in the second frame. Malkin would bring the Penguins within one, with his wrist shot. Brassard answered back again a few minutes later, with his second goal of the game, and thus putting the game out of reach. The Rangers would add an insurance goal, on the power play, from Ryan McDonagh. Going into the second intermission up 4-1, the Rangers had the game in hand.
The third period would get a little chippy, with the Pens knowing they were headed back to New York for game 6. Eight penalties in total for the final period, game 6 has a feeling to be another chippy contest. Kevin Klein would add an empty net goal, and on the back of King Henrik, the Rangers are still in the series.
“We knew that our execution need to be much better than it was the last game, our puck management, and for the most part it was,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “We were able to have a better puck possession night. We created a couple good looks and we were able to beat their goaltender, who had been real strong in this series.”
Game 6 is set for Sunday 7 p.m. EST (NBCSN/CBC) at Madison Square Garden.
Chicago had an opportunity to take their series over. After winning their first two games at home, and up 2-1 in the series, the Blackhawks squandered another opportunity.
Justin Fontaine opened the scoring for the Minnesota Wild, half way through the opening frame. Matt Cooke forced a turnover in the Blackawks zone, and found Justin Fontaine who dropped Corey Crawford to his knees and beat him top shelf for the 1-0 lead.
Chicago would have to wait for the final seconds of the opening period, before Patrick Sharp beat Ilya Bryzgalov through the five hole. It was an ugly period for the Blackhawks, though tied, only mustered up 4 shots to the Wild’s 7.
The Wild would be first to strike again during the second period. Jason Pomminville deflected his shot off the back of Crawfords legs for the 2-1 lead. Crawford never saw the shot, and most likely had no idea the puck was even back on that side of the net.
Chicago would get a golden opportunity, with a Patrick Sharp break away, but Bryz stoned him at the last second. “A game-changing save right there,” Minnesota forward, Zach Parise, said of the best of Bryzgalov’s 18 saves.
Michal Handzus would tie the game up a little under the half way mark of the second period. He got into position in the slot and tipped his shot past Bryzgalov. However the lead was short lived.
Not even a minute later, Nino Niederreiter, would beat Crawford glove side for what would be the game winning goal.
Minnesota would score first again in the final period. After a penalty to Michal Rosival for hold the puck, Jared Spurgeon wristed his shot past Crawford for the final goal of the game.
Chicago lacked offensive intensity, and seemed to be a step behind the Wild. With the win, the series is now tied at 2 games a piece.
“I think it’s reflecting of our intensity,” Chicago captain, Jonathan Toews said. “They worked for their chances. They worked for everything they got. We have to do the same. I don’t really know how to explain it, we have to be better. It’s frustrating to not get a win the last two games on the road.”
Game 5 is set for Sunday 9 p.m. EST (CNBC/TSN)
Tonight’s Picks
Bruins 4-2 and Kings 3-2
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