The Pittsburgh Penguins handled the New York Rangers, Thursday night, to clinch the fourth seed in the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.
Chris Kunitz, Tyler Kennedy, Richard Park, Evgeni Malkin, and Kris Letang all scored to defeat the Rangers who started backup goaltender, Marty Biron, after clinching the top seed in the Eastern Conference, Tuesday night. Coupled with a Flyers’ win, the Penguins guaranteed home-ice advantage against their cross-state rivals when the playoffs start on April 11th.
And still, Pittsburgh appeared to rest a few of their own starters. James Neal, Matt Niskanen and Steve Sullivan were all scratched with minor injuries. However, Dan Bylsma stated that all three players would be available for the playoffs.
The Penguins took the lead just 1:11 into the game on a goal from Chris Kunitz. Evgeni Malkin found Kris Letang wide open at the top of the face-off circle. Letang’s slapshot went wide but deflected off of Kunitz’s skate and into the net. The goal was Kunitz’s 25th of the season, tying a career high, set in Anaheim in the 2006-2007 season.
Brandon Dubinsky quickly tied the score, three minutes later. Ruslan Fedotenko took advantage of a Brian Strait turnover, blew past the defenseman, and shot the puck low to create a rebound opportunity for Dubinsky. The Alaskan native, roofed the puck over a diving Marc-Andre Fleury to put the Rangers on the board.
From there, the Penguins took over.
Tyler Kennedy buried a rebound from a sharp angle to give the Penguins a 2-1 lead heading into the first intermission. Then, Richard Park scored his seventh of the season, stuffing a loose puck behind Biron to extend the lead to two.
In the third period, Evgeni Malkin tallied his 49th goal of the season, stuffing a puck from in front after a backhand pass by Kunitz.
The Rangers had a chance to get back in the game with about five minutes remaining in the third period. Down 5-2, New York went on the power play after Kris Letang was penalized for cross-checking. Just over a minute later, Brooks Orpik was ejected for kneeing Derek Stepan.
The Penguins killed the first penalty and almost setup a scoring chance. Kris Letang took an outlet pass and broke free for a one on one chance against Biron. The shot was stopped and shortly after, Artem Anisimov scored to cut the Rangers’ deficit to two. The Penguins would spend the rest of the game killing a 5 on 4 penalty and Kris Letang scored the empty netter to seal the deal.
- The Penguins are 31-0-3 when leading after two periods this season.
- Marc-Andre Fleury recorded his 226 career win, tying Tom Barrasso for the franchise lead.
- Kris Letang tied his career high in goals despite playing in just 50 games this season.
Three Stars
- Evgeni Malkin
- Chris Kunitz
- Kris Letang
Photo courtesy of Yahoo! sports
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