Tuesday in the NHL | Penguins win controversial marathon game

It took more than 105 minutes, 151 shots and a goal from Evgeni Malkin in the third period of overtime to finally put an end to the first game of the series between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers on Tuesday night, which s ended with a 4-3 win for the Penguins.

Nicholas Richard
The Press

The match had however started smoothly for the troop of Mike Sullivan, manhandled by the Rangers and Ryan Reeves in the first period in terms of robustness. Rickard Rakell was notably a victim of the physical game, he who had to leave the match following a severe check from Ryan Lindgren. The locals also dominated in puck possession. The first third was mostly in Penguins territory. Rangers returned to the locker room with a 1-0 lead, thanks to a goal from Adam Fox.

In the second period, the valves opened on both sides. After a goal from Andrew Copp at the start of the engagement, the Penguins completely turned things around. They scored three goals, courtesy of Jake Guentzel, who found the back of the net twice, and Bryan Rust. Chris Kreider also scored for the Rangers.

The match did not master neither in the third period, nor in the first period of overtime, nor in the second period of overtime. Although, midway through the second overtime, goaltender Casey DeSmith had to leave the game with a lower-body injury after 48 saves. Quebecer Louis Domingue arrived in relief and he did a good job of blocking the 17 shots aimed at him, even if he arrived cold in this high intensity game.

It was finally during the sixth minute of play in the third overtime period that the Penguins silenced the exhausted Madison Square Garden crowd. John Marino sent the puck towards the net and Evgeni Malkin deflected the shot behind Igor Shesterkin. The Rangers goalkeeper will have made 79 saves during the game, placing him second in history, 9 shots from the record.

The big guns sound

As the famous saying goes, the best must be the best when it matters most. The playoffs being this kind of occasion, the star players of each formation were talked about during this first duel.

At the Penguins, Guentzel scored the first two goals for his team in the second period, when his team had to negotiate with a deficit of two goals. On the first, he was completely overlooked by the Rangers defense in front of Shesterkin and his captain Sidney Crosby spotted him. On his second, the two teammates again paired up. Arriving in opposing territory, Crosby drew both New York defenders before handing it over to Guentzel to tie the game. The winger even hit the crossbar in the first extra period.

For the Rangers, the last Norris Trophy winner, Adam Fox, opened the scoring in the first period on the power play with a shot from the point. Then, in the second, when the Penguins were on a roll, Kreider, who finished the season as the third-ranked NHL scorer, scored shorthanded with a nice backhand fake on the breakaway.

Lafrenière’s trio wins

In his first career game in the playoffs, Alexis Lafrenière left a very strong impression. From the outset, in his first appearance in the game, the Quebecer served three solid checks that knocked down his opponents. It was he who set the tone for the game and who animated the crowd in Madison Square Garden at the start of the game.

Lafrenière even had trouble with Crosby during scrums around the net. The two former members of the Rimouski Oceanic obviously had a lot to say to the man described as his worthy heir.

His line was the best for the Blue Shirts in the first game. Every time he, Kaapo Kakko and Filip Chytil were on the ice, the Penguins were hot on their heels. They caused a lot of things and generated several scoring chances.

A dubious decision

The three attackers kept up the pace and were almost rewarded at the end of the match. With about three minutes to go, Kakko outflanked the Penguins defense and made contact with goaltender DeSmith on his way to the net, as defenseman Brian Dumoulin pushed him from behind. Enough to deport the guard. On the ground, Kakko extended his stick to hand it to Chytil, who managed to thread the needle and give Rangers the lead.

However, with nothing to lose, Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan challenged the decision. The contact having been initiated by the defender, one would have expected that the decision on the ice would remain unchanged. However, since Kakko made no discernible move to deviate from his line, the goal was disallowed by the officials.

This decision will undoubtedly ultimately cost the Rangers the game.

Capitals surprise Panthers

The Washington Capitals came from behind with three third-period goals to defeat the Florida Panthers 4-2 on Tuesday in Game 1 of their NHL First Round series.

TJ Oshie and Evgeny Kuznetsov flashed the red light twice in the space of 2 minutes and 23 seconds and allowed the Capitals to maintain a lead for the ten minutes remaining in the duel.

The Presidents’ Trophy champions hadn’t lost in regulation time this season after leading after two periods until tonight. The Panthers were 22-0-0 at home in that kind of scenario and 39-0-1 overall.

Vitek Vanecek made 30 saves in the win. Ilya Samsonov, who shared the net with Vanecek throughout the campaign, served as backup.

Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 34 shots for the Panthers. Spencer Knight, who had kept the nets for the games n^oh 5 and n^oh 6 in their series against the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020-21, was benched.

The second matchup is Thursday in Florida.

Tom Wilson pounced on Anthony Mantha’s return shot to give the Capitals the lead early in the game.

Sam Bennett tied the game with an accurate shot late in the first period.

A few seconds after the start of the middle period, Claude Giroux skilfully picked a return to push the puck into a gaping cage. Jonathan Huberdeau and Brandon Montour were accomplices of the net.

In the third period, MacKenzie Weegar tried to get out of the zone by carrying the disc to the center of the ice, but Alex Ovechkin gave him a shoulder strike which knocked him down. His fall allowed Kuznetsov to escape and the Capitals center then beat Bobrovsky with a shot into the top corner.

Just two minutes later, Oshie redirected Nicklas Backstrom’s pass behind Bobrovsky and restored the lead to the Capitals.

Lars Eller completed the job with an empty net goal.

The Canadian Press