Rangers Cooke Penguins, Serve Road Sweep On Ice

by Rich Baiocco

Are we a 3rd period team or what? Despite Artem Anisimov getting the Rangers off to another hot start (on a picture-perfect sauce by Ryan Callahan), it was the clutch finish and unwavering character of this Blueshirt team that earned them another 2 points and completed the road sweep of the Penguins on Sunday.

The battle level of the Rangers has been in Playoff mode since mid-January and it's really showing now as we simply out-battled the higher seeded yet injury-plagued Penguins for 60 minutes. With Marc Staal out with an undisclosed body injury, his younger brother Jordan took advantage of some miscommunication between Dan Girardi and Steve Emminger and sneaked in behind the D, slipping a puck beneath Lundqvist's arm, tying the game at 1-1. Just the fact that Henrik Lundqvist suited up to play in this game following a whiplash injury sustained on a goalmouth collision Friday night was evidence of the Rangers' compete instinct, and despite letting up some odd-man rushes the Blueshirts moved into their comfort zone (the 3rd period) knotted at one.

The Rangers D played tough in the absence of Staal. Led by the young tandem of Michael Sauer and Ryan McDonough, the backlines authoritatively kept bodies away from Lundqvist much to the disbelief of the stymied Penguins who made a conscientious decision to crash the net hard and take advantage of an injured Henrik. The Blueshirts poise in their defensive zone kept the Pittsburgh chances to one and out and limited rebounds opportunities, keeping the shots low and the quality scoring chances even lower.

With tensions mounting in the 3rd period, headhunter and multiple-offender Matt Cooke caught Ryan McDonough with a clear elbow to the chin and earned himself a 5 minute misconduct and yet another game ejection. Unable to control the start of the power-play, the Rangers allowed a shorthanded goal by Chris Kunitz on a nearly unstoppable shot just over Lundqvist's right shoulder. Gut check moment for the brave Blueshirts who had been playing well enough to get the win and were obviously in need of points, both in the standings and now in the game. Down 2-1 but still on the power-play for another 3 and a half minutes, Ryan Callahan took an errant high stick to the bridge of his nose and came up bleeding. With the 5-3 the Rangers were able to figure out their power-play hangups and control the puck again, and Gaborik was at the helm, moving his feet, directing the puck, demanding coverage and ultimately freeing himself to hawk at a fledging crease rebound for his 3rd straight game with a goal.

Before the second power-play expired, Ryan Callahan took advantage of a puck shot wide by Mats Zuccarello and caught Marc-Andre Fleury leaning with a slapshot into the upper corner. The lead and the momentum quickly transferred to the Rangers and while the Penguins died off over the final course of the 3rd we kept our eyes on the prize and never looked back. Ryan McDonough, who played one of his best games, charged out of the penalty box and got two shots off on Fleury before Derek Stepan showed signs of Chris Drury and cashed in at the right place at the right time to put the game away with a goal.

Brandon Dubinsky was finally rewarded for his hard work the past few games with an empty net gift, garnering Ryan Callahan his 3rd point of the game and capping off an emotional comeback on National television. While the Penguins have been able to deal with the injuries to Sydney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin and still get points from other teams, the Rangers were simply not to be messed with. The strong forecheck of Boyle and Ruslan Fedotenko overpowered the less threatening Pittsburgh forwards and the team's 100% desire to win ran a stake through two-time Ranger Alexei Kovalev's indecision to shoot the puck when he had the opportunity. Matt Cooke's lame attempt to bully our young defense was the final failing point on the true story of the afternoon which is that the Rangers played one hell of a road game and got contributions from the goalie on out to the last forward (probably Wolski, who seems determined to get out of the Healthy Scratch rotation). While the the public waits to find out the length of Cooke's impending suspension (my guess is 8-10 games and a video clip emailed to Mario Lemiuex, who criticized the league's soft-handedness at dealing with cheapshots) the Rangers put a little distance between themselves and the rest of the pack of dogs vying for the 7th and 8th seed by posting their 4th straight win and longest streak of the year.

Up next: Florida, and definitely no time for a let down.