New York Rangers' Henrik Lundqvist outperforms Ottawa Senators for 1-0 shutout -NHL Playoffs Update
With the 2012 National Hockey League (NHL) Eastern Conference playoff quarterfinals between Rangers and Senators heading to Ottawa for game-three, the Canadian club was confident that the home crowd would allow them to break the tie and take lead.
Senators were shocked as Henrik Lundqvist, New York’s veteran goalie, blocked all 39 shots that came his way for a perfect shutout, his fourth in his NHL playoff career, taking the 2-1 lead.
"Henrik was there," Rangers coach, John Tortorella, said. "We have an identity we've tried to cultivate in our locker room -- and every time he plays, it starts with him."
For Ottawa, winning at home has become a matter of pride as they last won a game at the Scotiabank Place back in 2007 in game-three of the Stanley Cup Finals.
New York’s forward, Brian Boyle, was punished in game-two, which Ottawa won, as Senators’ Matt Carkner kept attacking the playing in a fight despite the former going down.
Karma was on Boyle’s side as he scored the game-winning goal for his team in the final period with less than 13 minutes left to play in regulation for his third of the series.
Ryan Callahan avoided traffic in the crease and forwarded the puck to Dan Girardi who spun behind the net and found Boyle open in front of Ottawa goalie, Craig Anderson. Boyle took full advantage of the miraculous opportunity and tipped it in high above
Anderson’s right shoulder for the win.
"If I did, I probably would've tried to do it a lot earlier," Boyle said. "That one comes out, hits the net, so it's tough for Anderson when it bounces off the wall that hard and hits the net and comes from another angle and I'm facing it the whole time.
It's kind of just a whack at it where I'm trying to put it in a general area and fortunately it went there. A lot of times it doesn't, but fortunately for us it did."
New York is determined to continue winning but Senators will definitely not be going down that easy. Game-four of the series will take place in Ottawa again on Wednesday, April 18, 2012.
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