Playoff Results - Fri, May 09, 2014

NY Rangers @ Pittsburgh 5-1 - Pens Lead Series 3-2

Derick Brassard seems to save his best for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Brassard had two goals and an assist, and the New York Rangers scored four times in the first two periods of a 5-1 win against the Penguins in Game 5 on Friday that extended the Eastern Conference Second Round series. Pittsburgh leads the best-of-7 series 3-2, with Game 6 on Sunday at Madison Square Garden (7 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS). Game 7, if necessary, will be at Consol Energy Center on Tuesday. Brassard and linemate Mats Zuccarello have feasted on the Penguins this season. In nine regular-season and playoff games against Pittsburgh, Brassard has five goals and three assists; Zuccarello, who set up three of New York's first four goals, has three goals and seven assists. Each of Brassard's goals in the series has been a game-winner; he scored the overtime goal in Game 1. The rest of the Rangers made some plays too; New York scored five times after managing a total of five goals in the first four games of the series. Chris Kreider and Ryan McDonagh each had a power-play goal, and defenseman Kevin Klein scored into an empty net. Goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 31 saves to improve to 8-2 in his past 10 Stanley Cup Playoff games when facing elimination or able to close a series. Rangers forward Martin St. Louis was in the lineup one day after the death of his mother, France. St. Louis spent time at home in Montreal before returning to the team Friday. Evgeni Malkin scored for the Penguins, and goalie Marc-Andre Fleury made 30 saves. The Rangers' managed 15 shots in Game 4, a 4-2 loss at Madison Square Garden. The Rangers led 2-0 after one period, and their 17 shots in the first 20 minutes was more than they managed in all of Game 4. Kreider supplied some of that confidence early, scoring a power-play goal 9:36 into the game. After diving to keep a play alive in the New York zone, he got the rebound of a Ryan McDonagh point shot along the goal line to the left of the net and beat Fleury inside the near post. It was the Rangers' first power-play goal since Game 2 of the first round against the Philadelphia Flyers, snapping an 0-for-36 drought that tied the 2007 Anaheim Ducks for the longest in NHL playoff history. The Rangers made it 2-0 on Brassard's goal at 15:23. It came after Penguins defenseman Kris Letang iced the puck, causing his team to go with tired skaters on a faceoff on the left side of their zone. The Rangers took advantage when defenseman Paul Martin fumbled the puck away to Benoit Pouliot. The loose puck bounced to Zuccarello in the slot, where he fired a shot that Fleury stopped, but Brassard drove to the net to backhand the rebound past Fleury. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma had warned his team to expect a strong start from the Rangers, but the Penguins were unable to keep up with the pace. Malkin scored a dazzling goal to get the Penguins within one early in the second. He split Marc Staal and defense partner Anton Stralman, lost the puck, got it back along the goal line, spun and fired a shot past Lundqvist. But the Rangers stole back the momentum when Brassard and McDonagh scored 50 seconds apart midway through the second to make it 4-1. The Penguins had chances to get back in the game, including a 5-on-3 power play for 1:23 in the final stages of the second period during which they couldn't manage a shot. The Penguins finished the game 0-for-4 with the man advantage and are 1-for-15 in the series. The Penguins had another power play in the third period and generated two shots during a 4-on-3 advantage that became a 5-on-3 when Fleury was pulled with 5:53 to go. Klein closed the scoring into an empty net with 2:29 remaining. Bylsma had warned his team before the game that they needed to match the Rangers' desperation in order to close the series. They weren't able to do it and now will have to make an unwanted trip to New York for Game 6.

Brassard: (when asked why he's had so much success against the Penguins.)"I don't have an answer for you. We're just playing. We don't put any pressure on ourselves. I think it helps that we're great friends off the ice. There's no pressure when we play together. Everything's positive. We needed to step up [in Game 5]. I don't think the last two games ... we were OK. We didn't play bad but we were nothing special. We just tried to play hard [Friday]. We had some lucky bounces and we made some plays. I think we were averaging two goals per game in the playoffs and that's not good enough. Our goalie can't stop everything every night. A night like [Game 5] where we score more than two, that's going to give confidence to our forwards."

Alain Vigneault: "We knew that our execution need to be much better than it was the last game, our puck management, and for the most part it was. We were able to have a better puck-possession night. We created a couple good looks and we were able to beat their goaltender, who had been real strong in this series. We've got another chance to continue. It's going to be on Mother's Day, which is obviously going to be real special for our group. We're going to be ready."
Kreider: "I think we've been doing some things well on the power play. It's hard when you see that looming statistic. But it's nice when you finally get one. ... I think it was huge. I think it was a really important goal."
Bylsma: "We definitely expected their best, and their very best off the hop. They came really hard, really aggressive down the walls. We turned over a few pucks as a result, led to their offensive-zone time. In addition to that we had some unforced errors. We shot a puck over the glass without a lot of pressure. We had an unforced icing that led to a goal. We had a bad change that led to a power play and another goal. In addition to them playing their hardest and their best, we had some unforced errors that gave them their chances on the power play. The 5-on-3 was a huge opportunity for us. We had an empty net that we hit but it hit one of our players. We had a couple plays. I don't think we've attacked and shot enough on our power play. The 5-on-3 was ... we needed to get one there and maybe a second one before the end of the second period. We had some looks and chances, missed the net with a shot, hit our own guy with a shot and didn't capitalize. You have to turn the page real quick. We're getting on a plane [Saturday] and we have to go to the Garden for Game 6. It's a tough building and a team that's playing desperate right now. They played desperate in Game 5 and had a big victory. Now we're forced to go back there and play better. We have to play with that same desperation [as the Rangers] and we have to do it back there."

Penalties

1st Period
08:44 PIT	Robert Bortuzzo  Delaying Game-Puck over glass
17:49 NYR	Benoit Pouliot  Tripping against  Evgeni Malkin
2nd Period
08:32 PIT	Evgeni Malkin  Too many men/ice - bench
17:34 NYR	Derick Brassard  Slashing against  Evgeni Malkin
18:11 NYR	Dan Girardi  Holding against  Chris Kunitz
3rd Period
06:14 PIT	Kris Letang  Roughing against  Dominic Moore
06:14 NYR	Dominic Moore  Roughing against  Kris Letang
06:40 PIT	Evgeni Malkin  Unsportsmanlike conduct against  Dan Girardi
12:16 PIT	Brian Gibbons  Cross checking against  Dominic Moore
12:16 NYR	Dominic Moore  Roughing against  Brian Gibbons
14:07 PIT	Jussi Jokinen  Cross checking against  John Moore
14:07 NYR	John Moore  Cross checking against  Jussi Jokinen
14:07 NYR	John Moore  Slashing against  Jussi Jokinen

Chicago @ Minnesota 2-4 - Series Tied 2-2
Another offensive explosion at Xcel Energy Center has the Minnesota Wild all even in their Western Conference Second Round series against the Chicago Blackhawks. The Wild scored four goals for the second straight game here to earn a 4-2 victory Friday and even the best-of-7 Stanley Cup Playoff series 2-2. Justin Fontaine, Jason Pominville and Nino Niederreiter scored even-strength goals in the first two periods and Jared Spurgeon added a power-play goal in the third. The goals by Pominville and Niederreiter, which proved to be the game-winner, answered tying goals by the Blackhawks. The Blackhawks couldn't stabilize because the Wild kept finding answers to their surges, including the unexpected brilliance of goalie Ilya Bryzgalov, who found his game after allowing a pair of questionable goals during a span of 7:07 bridging the first and second periods. With the game at 2-1 in the second period, Bryzgalov stoned Patrick Sharp on a clean breakaway. Game 5 is Sunday at United Center (9 p.m. ET; CNBC, TSN, RDS). After scoring a total of three goals in losing the opening two games at United Center, the Wild erupted for eight goals in the next two games. Chicago is learning the same painful lesson the Colorado Avalanche learned in the previous round: The Wild are very hard to beat at Xcel Energy Center. The Wild are 5-0 in these playoffs in front of their home fans, including a 4-0 win Tuesday that prevented them from falling into a 3-0 series hole. The Wild are 1-5 on the road and have allowed 26 goals. The back-to-back losses mean Chicago will be forced to endure another visit here for Game 6 on Tuesday. At that point, Chicago will either be a game away from advancing to the Western Conference Final for the second straight year, or be on the brink of extinction. Minnesota assured this series will go at least six games by playing the brand of hockey that defines the Wild when they are playing well. Chicago managed 20 shots on goal, few of a high-quality nature. The goal by Sharp that tied the game at 1-1 was a partial gift; Bryzgalov allowed a stoppable shot to squeeze through his leg pads. The other goal, by Handzus, was the type of goal Chicago wants in this series, the result of a bit of a cycle that punished the Minnesota defense followed by a forward establishing and maintaining position in the slot for a tip. But after Handzus' goal, there was very little push from the Blackhawks. They entered the third period needing a goal to get even but managed seven shots in the final 20 minutes. Chicago managed 19 shots Tuesday in a 4-0 loss in Game 3. It managed one more than that Friday. The Blackhawks say neither shot total is enough. The Wild counter that the low totals are a product of their acumen at playing a fundamentally sound defensive game. Unlike Game 3, when Minnesota did not score until the third period, the Wild established themselves in the offensive zone early and often in Game 4. The goals followed in short order. The first one was set up by forward Matt Cooke, making his first appearance since finishing a seven-game suspension for a knee-on-knee hit on Colorado defenseman Tyson Barrie in the first round. Cooke's aggressive forecheck forced Michal Rozsival into a turnover in his own zone; Fontaine picked up the puck and placed a rising wrist shot between the shoulder of goaltender Corey Crawford and the short-side post at 7:24. It was Fontaine's first goal in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the first time Minnesota scored in the first period in this series. Sharp tied the game in the final seconds of the first period, but Crawford allowed Minnesota to take a 2-1 lead 3:51 into the second. This time, he was struggling to find his position in the crease and the puck behind his net when Pominville pinballed his centering attempt off the goalie's skates and into the net. After blowing its second one-goal lead of the game on the Handzus goal, Minnesota needed all of 44 seconds to go ahead for good. This time, Koivu made a nice outlet pass to Charlie Coyle at the attacking blue line, and Coyle made a beautiful touch pass to Niederreiter steaming down the left side. Niederreiter took the pass in stride, moved in another 10 feet or so and snapped a wrist shot to the far side past Crawford's glove. It stood up as the game-winner, Niederreiter's second of the postseason. Minnesota added a power-play goal in the third period, a beautiful passing play between Koivu and Spurgeon that ended with Spurgeon ladling a shot above the lunging Crawford, who made 27 saves.

Joel Quenneville: "They fed off the crowd, those goals we gave up we lost a lot of energy; 1-1, 2-1, get it right back, 2-2, we're fine and they get it right back. They play hard in their building and they're good in their building and they check well, so it's tough to get momentum in here. Couple times we had it, we didn't get to stabilize it."

Zach Parise: "A game-changing save right there. (of Bryzgalov's 18 stops.) We've guaranteed a Game 6 now, another game here. I can only imagine it's going to be even better. We're always making them come through five guys. That gets frustrating. We're working hard. We're making it tough. We're just playing a good defensive game, and that is, in turn, letting us have the puck more and play more offense."
Jonathan Toews: "I think it's reflecting of our intensity. They worked for their chances. They worked for everything they got. We have to do the same. I don't really know how to explain it, we have to be better. It's frustrating to not get a win the last two games on the road. [We] could have put ourselves in a great spot had we played the way we need to play to try and get a win these last two games. But we didn't. This series is long from over. That's the good news. We have a chance to redeem ourselves and be better than we have been."
Nino Niederreiter: "It felt great. Obviously, it was a great play by Charlie Coyle to get the puck in the neutral zone and he played it up perfectly to me and I had a chance to get that goal. We knew how important this game was for us tonight and I feel we played, from the beginning to the end, a very solid game. We know we can be better in certain areas, but, overall, I think it was a great performance by us."