Playoff Results - Fri, May 02, 2014

NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh 3-2 OT - Round 2 Game 1

How good has the New York Rangers' line of Derick Brassard, Benoit Pouliot and Mats Zuccarello been?

"Since Christmas, they've probably been our most consistent line," Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. "They've got real good chemistry, they read off each other, support each other well ... and they scored two in overtime."
Brassard and Pouliot each put the puck in the net during overtime Friday, but only Brassard's counted as the Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in Game 1 of their Eastern Conference Second Round series. Pouliot and Brad Richards scored for the Rangers in regulation, and Henrik Lundqvist stopped 34 of 36 shots. Lee Stempniak and James Neal scored for the Penguins, and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 24 saves. Game 2 of the best-of-7 series is Sunday at Consol Energy Center (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS). The only goal of overtime that counted came 3:06 into the extra period. Pouliot intercepted a Rob Scuderi pass below the goal line in the Pittsburgh end and sent a quick pass in front to Brassard, whose shot from the slot beat Fleury under his glove and below the crossbar. The puck came out of the net as quickly as it went in and play continued. The puck went out to Anton Stralman whose shot was stopped. The rebound went to Brassard at the side of the net, and he sent it to Pouliot, who scored an easier-to-track goal. After a video replay, the goal was awarded to Brassard.
"I thought it went in and when I saw the ref waving it [off], the puck came back to me," Brassard said. "I found [Pouliot] after. All the credit to Stralman, keeping the puck in on the side there, and [Pouliot] made the play behind the net stealing the puck. I don’t know how he found me, because I was behind the defenseman. It was a great pass."
It capped a strong effort for the Rangers, who were playing their fourth game in six days. They beat the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in Game 7 of their Eastern Conference First Round series 48 hours earlier.
"We're fine," Pouliot said. "It's not like we're traveling so far away. We played seven games and the seventh one was a grueling match, but I think most of us have been through it. It's the NHL. You've got to figure out a way, and we did."
After the Rangers carried play in the first period and the Penguins responded in kind in the second, the third period was full of chances for each team, but Lundqvist and Fleury stepped up big. Fleury had possibly his best period of the postseason, making eight saves. He flashed a quick glove to rob Derek Stepan 64 seconds into the period, but about a minute later made his best save. He used his stick to stop Rick Nash's low shot from the left corner but deflected the puck right to Martin St. Louis in front. St. Louis had the game on his stick a few feet out from the net, but Fleury was able to get a piece of the shot with left arm. Lundqvist also was solid in the period, stopping all 12 shots he saw. With the Penguins on the power play early in the period, he made a nice glove save on a hard Evgeni Malkin shot, and then came out to stop Stempniak from the right side with 14 seconds left in regulation.
"We played pretty much our whole bench pretty even minutes, forwards and defensemen," Vigneault said. "Guys had good energy, they were focused. We thought we were in pretty good position to be tied after two periods in this building. We played a solid third period and got it done in overtime."
The Rangers came out looking like the fresher team in the first period, holding the Penguins without a shot for the first seven minutes of the game and getting goals from Pouliot and Richards. Pouliot scored 5:04 into the game when he grabbed the puck after Dan Girardi blocked a shot in the New York end and scored off a quick wrist shot from the high slot. Then a strong forechecking effort by Carl Hagelin and defensive-zone breakdown by the Penguins left Richards alone in the slot to score his third of the playoffs with 2:57 left in the opening period.
"I think for whatever reason we didn't come out hard enough," said Penguins captain Sidney Crosby, who was a minus-3 with three shots on goal.
The Penguins came right back in the second, outshooting the Rangers 15-4 and getting goals from Stempniak and Neal. Stempniak scored with a backhander that found space between Lundqvist's pads at 7:15, and Neal tied the game when his low shot from the high slot bounced off Lundqvist's stick and landed behind the New York goaltender before trickling across the goal line with Malkin standing in the crease. The goal stood after a video replay showed Malkin did not touch the puck. The Rangers felt lucky that was all they gave up.
"It's unfortunate our second wasn't as good as our first," Girardi said. "We could have really had a stranglehold on the game. We just stopped skating, stopped making plays and sat back. That's when they take advantage of us not getting pucks deep. They're coming through the neutral zone flying, they’re crisscrossing, making drop passes, and those are hard to defend when we're back on our heels and they're coming with speed. That took a lot for us to come back in the third and refocus our game and get back to what we did in the first."
Regardless of the final result, the Rangers know they have more work to do. "All we've done is win one game," Vigneault said. "We'll rest up [Saturday], we'll have some meetings about things we need to do better, talk about that [Saturday] and get ready for next game." The Penguins will do the same. "We come back from 2-0 down after the first period, get the two goals and made a push to win this game. We don't, but we've got to have a short memory. We've got to come back with Game 2 in our building and put our best foot forward for Game 2."
Minnesota @ Chicago 2-5 - Round 2 Game 1

Patrick Kane has made a living connecting in the clutch for the Chicago Blackhawks during the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Chalk up one more highlight-reel finish for No. 88. The 25-year-old right wing added to his impressive body of work Friday with two third-period goals to help the defending Stanley Cup champions to a 5-2 victory against the Minnesota Wild in Game 1 of their Western Conference Second Round series at United Center.

"I've been fortunate enough to be with some great players in this organization, and I think you can go up and down the roster that have been here for a long time and say everyone has done some big things in big games and scored big goals," Kane said. "I think it's part of everyone's game that's been around here with the winning attitude. It's always nice to chip in too."
Kane scored his first off a spectacular one-handed backhand low in the right circle to snap a 2-2 tie at 8:22 before getting his fifth of this postseason off a pass from Ben Smith with 3:13 remaining. Kane has 34 goals and 79 points in 82 Stanley Cup Playoff games. Bryan Bickell scored twice, including an empty-net goal with 2:41 to go. Marian Hossa also scored for Chicago, which got 30 saves from Corey Crawford. The Blackhawks were outshot for the fifth time in seven playoff games (32-22). The Wild pulled into a 2-2 tie on two quick goals to begin the third period. Defenseman Clayton Stoner made it 2-1 when he directed a shot on Crawford that skittered behind him and deflected off the skate of Blackhawks defenseman Johnny Oduya at 2:19. A video review confirmed the goal. Kyle Brodziak converted a 2-on-1 down low with Erik Haula, lifting home his third of the postseason to Crawford's left at 6:56 to square the game. Game 2 is Sunday at United Center (3 p.m. ET; NBC, RDS, TSN).
"We have to play better with that lead," Kane said. "They made a good push coming back and making it 2-2. Having some time off, we might have been a little rusty. They were coming off a Game 7 win [against the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday] so maybe there was a little high for them. I thought they played pretty well. They probably took it to us most of the game, so we'll try to come back with a better effort in Game 2."
"I didn't mind our first period, but the second period was tilted towards our end kind of like our last game against St. Louis (in the first round Sunday)," Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville said. "We certainly lost momentum in the game and they capitalized early in the third, and here we are 2-2 with a lot of hockey left in that game. But there was a good response. [Kane] came up with one of those goals that not many guys in the League could even try or get it done."
The Minnesota comeback was nothing new. The Wild spent all of their first-round series playing catch up against the Colorado Avalanche, overcoming four one-goal deficits in Game 7 before finally earning a 5-4 victory, their first series win in 11 years.
"It didn't have the feel of a game that we were definitely going to win, and when you don't have everyone playing with urgency in detail then you're leaving it up to chance and that's what we did [Friday]," Wild coach Mike Yeo said. "It's not just about effort and trying hard. It's doing things the right way. We didn't have that urgency that adds up to wins this time of the year."
Kane, who won the Conn Smythe Trophy last year and scored the Stanley Cup-winning goal in 2010, began his latest offensive surge midway through the third period. After taking a pass from Patrick Sharp in the neutral zone, Kane crossed the blue line and stickhandled past Wild defenseman Ryan Suter. Kane faked a pass to Patrick Sharp, skated by Brodziak in the right circle while holding away defenseman Jonas Brodin, then lifted a marvelous backhand that beat goalie Ilya Bryzgalov to the short side for a 3-2 lead.
"It's a special play, a great move at the blue line where he juked and jived," Wild forward Jason Pominville said. "He kind of faked a drop to Sharp to go around Brodin and get the shot off. Not many guys can pull that off and be able to do it. We'll have to make sure we have better back pressure and don't give him that opportunity next time."
It's gotten to a point where Sharp expects that type of play out of Kane, whose five goals are tied for the NHL lead this postseason (Paul Stastny, Colorado).
"He's so calm with the puck in tight spaces and he makes shots that not a whole lot of people can make," Sharp said. "That backhand is a good example of it. The thing I like about [Kane] the best is the big stages. He always seems to put one in, whether he's back home in Buffalo in a big game, time and time again in the playoffs he scores goals and it seems like he wants that puck all the time."
The Blackhawks opened a 2-0 lead in the second period on a power-play goal by Hossa at 11:21. The play was set up off a picturesque backhand pass by Brandon Saad from the right circle right onto Hossa's forehand at the left post.
"[Saad] took the puck to the middle and we talk about the side plays, just find a way," Hossa said. "It was a beautiful pass and basically I had an empty net and I just lifted it over the pad."
The Wild exhibited much more life in the period, outshooting the Blackhawks 17-3, but were denied each time by Crawford. He picked up where he left off in the six-game, first-round series win against the St. Louis Blues, when he posted a 1.38 goals-against average and .954 save percentage in four straight victories after losing Games 1 and 2.
"Our guys are doing an unbelievable job on the penalty kill, and special teams was a factor again," Crawford said. "I don't know what else you can say about [Kane]. That guy turns a lot of games around for us. After giving up the lead, he makes another great play to get us right back. He's definitely a difference-maker in a lot of games."
The Blackhawks denied the Wild on three power-play opportunities and finished 2-for-4 with the man-advantage. Bickell gave the Blackhawks a 1-0 lead in the first period on the power play when he redirected a shot from the point by Brent Seabrook past Bryzgalov at 14:48. Brodin received a double-minor for high sticking Hossa at 13:09 to present the Blackhawks with their first big opportunity of the game. Prior to Bickell's goal, Wild forward Zach Parise missed on a shorthanded attempt when he took a lead pass at center ice and skated over the blue line before Blackhawks defenseman Nick Leddy denied him a quality attempt off a superb backcheck. The Blackhawks lost right wing Andrew Shaw midway through the first period when he limped off the ice after taking a hard hit from Stoner, who caught Shaw along the right wing half boards in the Minnesota end at 10:34.
"Shaw is a guy that plays hard and goes in hard on the forecheck," Crawford said. "He's a pest in front of their net. He gets in front of the goalie. Even though he's a small guy (5-foot-10, 180 pounds), it seems like he's able to take a lot of goalies' vision away. He's a key player for us. I don't know what he's like right now."