Motivated New York Rangers crush sloppy Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1 – NHL Update
A pep-talk from New York Rangers’ coach, John Tortorella, in the middle of the game instilled new energy into the players, who came back sharply after giving an early goal to beat Pittsburgh Penguins, 3-1, at the CONSOL Energy Center on Friday, January 6,
2012.
At 5:43 in the first period, Craig Adams and Joe Vitale combined for an assist that set up Ben Lovejoy who scored his first goal of the season to put the Penguins in lead.
The coach of the Atlantic Division leaders could not tolerate the sloppy performance and called a timeout, which actually worked for him as his team got its fifth straight victory in Pittsburgh. The Rangers started off late, but when they started to get
going, they were unstoppable.
“I just wanted to let them know that we're just not mailing this in, because that's the look we had," Tortorella said. "You see teams so much in our league say, 'OK let's pack it in tonight, we'll get going the next game.' I don't want this team to do that
and I think we found a way to at least gain some energy, found a way to score some goals."
Goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, took the coach’s words rather seriously and ended up with 37 saves to win his sixth straight game. The motivated Rangers’ offence then did their part and flared up to score three goals.
Towards the end of the first period at 18:17, Brandon Dubinsky and Ryan McDonagh set up Brad Richards who scored his 15th goal of the season to equalise the score.
In the second period, when Lundqvist was still ensuring to prevent the puck from reaching the nets, Ryan Callahan and Dan Girardi assisted Dubinsky for Rangers’ second goal of the game.
Derek Stepan scored the final goal of the game in the third period to give the Rangers a decisive two-goal lead.
The goal was more of a gift from the Penguins’ goalie, Marc-Andre Fleury who left his zone, giving a chance to Marian Gaborik to strike the puck that rebounded off the post and Stepan made no mistake in sending the puck to its destination.
Penguins’ coach, Dan Bylsma, accepted that his team gave the game away despite getting an early lead.
"A lot of that game is the way we need to play, but it comes down to a couple of mistakes by our team," he said. "They come out of the period 1-1 even though we dictated the first 12-14 minutes."
The Rangers continued their winning run by extending their streak to four games. They are now going to face Phoenix Coyotes on Tuesday, January 10.
On the other hand, the Penguins, who are ranked third in the Atlantic Division, received their third straight defeat. They will take on New Jersey Devils on Saturday, January 7.
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