PITTSBURGH —
The Rangers seemed almost like an afterthought Wednesday night, until they scored twice in 15 seconds midway through the third period, on a laser snap shot from Erik Christensen and a rebound by Alex Frolov.
Four and a half minutes later, Artem Anisimov added another goal, and Brian Boyle scored a minute and a half later to give the Rangers a 4-1 win.
The come-from-behind victory — their second in two visits to the
Consol Energy Center — revealed the Rangers as legitimate contenders. But it was also costly. They lost Ryan Callahan to a broken hand.
The Penguins are the N.H.L.’s glamour team, and coming into this game the talk was about their loss the night before to their archrivals at the top of the Eastern Conference, the Philadelphia Flyers, and about their debut Wednesday in HBO’s “24/7” series leading up to the Jan. 1 Winter Classic at Heinz Field.
Anything but the Rangers. Before the game, Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma acknowledged that he was concerned about a lack of focus, but even he framed it in terms of the Flyers.
“Part of me is worried we’re not fully ready after playing an emotional game against Philly, a first-place team,” he said — prophetically, as it turned out.
The Penguins took the lead on a lovely Evgeni Malkin goal set up by Sidney Crosby late in the first period. Crosby froze defenseman Dan Girardi with a fake slap shot, then passed softly to Malkin, who finished deftly. That extended Crosby’s point-scoring streak to a career-high 20 games.
It also seemed as if it would get the Penguins back to winning after the Flyers ended Pittsburgh’s 12-game winning streak — a streak that began the night HBO cameras first entered the Penguins’ dressing room to shoot the series.
The Rangers’ bracing victory came on a night when Chris Drury, their current captain, returned from an eight-week absence because of a broken finger — and lost Callahan, their probable captain of the future, to a broken hand.
Callahan went to the dressing room just 4 minutes 42 seconds into the game after blocking a shot from Penguins defenseman Kris Letang. It was his third shift, and he did not return.
Callahan entered the game leading
N.H.L. forwards in blocking shots, a risky feature of his game. Drury is also a forward who specializes in shot-blocking; he first injured his right index finger in training camp, blocking a shot during a scrimmage.
Callahan is the Rangers’ second-leading scorer, with 10 goals and 23 points in 32 games. His all-out shot-blocking and body-checking — he is No. 2 in the N.H.L. in hits — exemplify the Rangers’ new style of grit and terrier-like pursuit of the puck. But he will probably miss several games.
Drury played well in only his second game of the season, creating a short-handed two-on-one break in the first period and contributing 25 solid shifts.
The Rangers were also helped by a questionable goaltender interference call that wiped out what would have been the tying goal from Malkin with 6:19 left to play. Michal Rozsival pushed Pittsburgh’s Pascal Dupuis into Henrik Lundqvist just before the shot, but the officials said Dupuis was the guilty party.
The result gave the Rangers victories in their last two games over both starring teams in the “24/7” series: the Penguins on Wednesday, and the Capitals, 7-0, last Sunday. Perhaps the wrong team is being featured on HBO.
SLAP SHOT
The Penguins fell to 5-1 in the second game of contests played on consecutive nights. The Rangers are 8-0 and host Phoenix on Thursday. ... The fight night some expected from the Rangers and the Penguins, the two teams that lead the league in fighting majors, did not really materialize. There was just one scrap, Sean Avery against Pittsburgh’s Arron Asham in the third period. The Rangers’ Derek Boogaard did not make the trip, and their most frequent fighter, Brandon Prust, concentrated on hockey. Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma did not dress his most frequent fighter, Deryk Engelland.
Read More
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/16/sports/hockey/16rangers.html
