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Penguins Fall to Rangers 3-0, Take First Loss of the Playoffs
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Jagr cries, wishing he were back in Pitt
Read more at Pensburgh.com
Let me first admit - I prematurely broomjaculated. My apologies.
It wasn't exactly Pittsburgh's strongest game offensively, but then again you can't knock it so much. I've always been one to give credit when credit is due, and with that I have to say that Henrik Lundqvist is the reason why the two teams are heading back to Pittsburgh.
So the Penguins are heading back to Pittsburgh for Game 5 and Rangers fans couldn't be anymore optimistic. If this were Game 1, I'd say they have every right to be. But when you consider the Rangers are still down 3-1 they'll need more than just luck.
Marc-Andre Fleury didn't play a bad game either. Gonchar screened him on first Jagr goal which was without a doubt a pretty goal. Then he got a bad beat on Dubinsky's spin-around a la Kennedy goal that pretty much sealed the deal for the Rangers.
The dump and run game works for the Rangers, but it's clearly not the style for the Pens. Pittsburgh is more of a gun and run team. The fact they allowed for a slow paced game really put it into the hands of New York. And, again, Lundqvist couldn't have played a better game.
Malkin and Crosby just didn't look into it tonight. Next to Jordan Staal's shot attempt earlier in the season, Malkin let loose with quite possibly one of the most disgusting looking penalty shots I've seen in a while. He's not one for shootouts and penalty shots anyways, but that was downright ugly.
Kudos to the Rangers defense as well. They single-handedly shutdown Crosby throughout the night, limiting his shots and doing it all in clean hockey fashion. They also played a well-disciplined game that kept the Pens off their deadly power play and forced 5-on-5 play. Then again, Pitt certainly took their share of penalties as well, putting New York in the driver's seat.
So we see our second shutout of the series, this time unfortunately to the disadvantage of the Pens. Both teams head back to Pittsburgh for Game 5, Sunday at 2 p.m. Put away the brooms and bust out the towels.
