Pittsburgh Penguins pick up fourth straight win with 4-1 victory over New York Rangers - NHL Update
The Pittsburgh Penguins continued their revival from a recent six game losing streak with a brilliant, 4-1, victory over Eastern Conference table toppers New York Rangers on Thursday, January 19, 2012, at the Madison Square Garden in New York, New York,
United States.
Penguins, who are without captain and star player, Sidney Crosby, have found their mojo back and a win over the Rangers will greatly boost confidence in the locker room.
Pittsburgh moves up to the sixth position in the Eastern Conference with a 25-17-4 record and 54 points and their return to winning form could not have come at a better time.
The six-game losing streak starting from December 29 back in 2011 is now just a bad memory for the fans that are beginning to regain confidence in the team.
For the Rangers this was their second 4-1 loss in the past three games. New York lost by the same score line against the struggling Montreal Canadiens on Sunday, but won their next game 3-0 over the Nashville Predators before succumbing to another big loss
yesterday.
The Rangers however, maintained their pole position on top of the Eastern Conference with a 29-12-4 record and 62 points but only a single point separates them now from the chasing Boston Bruins, who won their game against the New Jersey Devils by a 4-1
score line as well.
Rangers’ coach, John Tortorella, praised his team’s performance but said that small individual mistakes led to the lopsided loss.
"We gathered ourselves, and I thought we played really well, but for a space of five minutes we had some bad reads and a couple of struggles with some players. They are that quick and that good, and they beat us", Tortorella said.
The Penguins took the lead at the packed Madison Square Garden early in the first period.
At 3:16 Chris Kunitz and Paul Martin combined as Martin’s powerful shot was saved by Rangers goaltender, Henrik Lundqvist, but Kunitz was on hand as he placed the puck in the net with his follow through.
The Rangers had to wait till the second period to score their first goal equalising through Carl Hagelin at 10:06 as Marian Gaborik provided the assist.
The game was anybody’s for the taking at the start of the third period with the score at 1-1 but the Penguins looked the hungrier.
Pittsburgh took the lead for the second time in the night as Richard Park beat Lundqvist at 2:23 to give his side the advantage for good.
"We made some major mental mistakes in the third period that cost us the game", Tortorella said. "Did we play the full sixty? No. But for the middle part of that game I thought we were right where we wanted to be".
The Penguins started turning the s***w and secured the victory with two more goals to end the game with a lopsided win.
At 7:10 Evgeni Malkin who has picked up the scoring baton from injured captain, Sidney Crosby, put the Penguins 3-1 up and rounded up a brilliant individual performance with his second goal and Pittsburgh’s fourth at 18:20 to give his side a solid victory.
The Rangers will now face a battle for the top spot against the Boston Bruins on Saturday while the Penguins welcome the Montreal Canadiens.
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