Playoff Results - Mon, May 05, 2014

Pittsburgh @ NY Rangers 2-0 - Pens Lead Series 2-1

Sidney Crosby scored his first goal of the 2014 Stanley Cup Playoffs, and Marc-Andre Fleury made 35 saves to post his second straight shutout and lead the Pittsburgh Penguins to a 2-0 victory against the New York Rangers in Game 3 of their Eastern Conference Second Round series at Madison Square Garden on Monday. New York, which was playing its sixth postseason game in nine days, once again failed miserably on the power play, going 0-for-5. The Rangers are 0-for-13 with the man advantage in three games against the Penguins and have not scored in 34 straight chances. Fleury, who earned his eighth career playoff shutout, has stopped 57 straight shots since allowing a goal to Derick Brassard in a 3-2 overtime loss in Game 1 last Friday. He became the first Pittsburgh goalie to post back-to-back playoff shutouts, making 16 saves in the second period and nine in the third. Fleury also received a bit of luck. Two New York shots rang off the post, and another hit the crossbar. In fact, when Rangers forward Mats Zuccarello hit the crossbar midway through the second period, Fleury took off his glove and began rubbing the iron. Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist made 13 saves in the loss. New York will try to even the series Wednesday in Game 4 at the Garden (7:30 p.m. ET; NBCSN, CBC, RDS). The last time the Rangers were shut out in back-to-back playoff games was Games 4 and 5 of the 1937 Stanley Cup Final against the Detroit Red Wings. Detroit won that best-of-5 series 3-2. The Rangers, who did generate 10 shots on their five power plays, haven't scored a goal with the man advantage since Game 2 of their Eastern Conference First Round series against the Philadelphia Flyers; they are 3-for-42 in the playoffs. It has gotten to the point where the Rangers' struggles on the power play have actually provided the opposition just the momentum it needs to capitalize in the offensive zone. Crosby received his chance after his team denied the Rangers on their third power play of the game. A double minor for high sticking assessed to James Neal at 18:15 of the first that carried over into the second saw the Rangers generate five shots, but they could not beat Fleury. Defenseman Robert Bortuzzo spotted Crosby flying down his left wing. Bortuzzo's pass from the Penguins zone connected with Crosby in stride at the Rangers blue line, and the Pittsburgh captain skated into the left circle and ripped a shot that beat Lundqvist through the five-hole 19 seconds after Neal had exited the penalty box. The goal was Crosby's first in 14 playoff games dating back to May 2013, his first in 10 games at MSG and his first against Lundqvist since firing a shot home in the second period of a 3-0 triumph as a member of Canada against Sweden at the 2014 Sochi Olympics. The Penguins extended the lead to 2-0 in the second when Jussi Jokinen burst out the box after serving a penalty for holding the stick, picked off an errant pass to the left point by Zuccarello and broke in alone on Lundqvist before scoring his fifth goal of the playoffs at 15:20. Jokinen, who has provided Pittsburgh with the secondary scoring needed in the playoffs, extended his point streak to seven games with the goal; he has four goals and three assists over that stretch. Each coach was in the mood for a little gamesmanship before the opening faceoff and in the first period. Rangers coach Alain Vigneault replaced forwards Daniel Carcillo and Derek Dorsett with J.T. Miller and Jesper Fast, and defenseman Raphael Diaz suited up in place of John Moore. Despite the loss, Vigneault claimed he liked what he saw from his group. The Rangers' changes were made to generate more speed and aggression in the Penguins zone. For the most part the plan worked; New York held a 10-7 shot advantage at the first intermission. Fleury, who was fresh off a 22-save shutout in Game 2 on Sunday, stopped all 10 shots. Lundqvist, who made 32 of 34 saves Sunday, was equally sharp. Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said that his team's penalty kill, including Fleury, was the difference. The Penguins have allowed seven power-play goals on 40 chances in the postseason. The Penguins also blocked 17 shots, including a team-high three blocks by defenseman Paul Martin.

Dan Bylsma: "I don't think there was any question that [Fleury] was our best player on the ice. He was strong all throughout the game and certainly on the penalty kill. Our penalty kill shut them out, and that was mostly because of Marc-Andre. Obviously, it was a big lift for Sid. At that point in the game, it was about killing off the four-minute penalty, and that next shift we come out and get that goal. It was a huge lift for our team, and no better than to get it from Sidney. Jokinen is one of those guys that if you're looking for a big goal or a game-winning goal or overtime goal, you would pick him. He has a knack for scoring big goals. It was a big dagger to get that second goal."
Fleury: "I was glad. I was thanking [the crossbar]; he was a good friend."
Crosby: "It's all about momentum and definitely to get those kills and a couple of goals in the second, we seemed to get a boost off of that. But to kill as many penalties as we did, it took a lot of flow from the game. It wasn't easy on our side to create momentum, so hopefully we can stay out of the box and do a better job with that."
Bortuzzo: "I heard him yell, 'Hey. Hey. Hey. When you hear that, you get him the puck. But I don't think it took that goal for him to get confidence back. He's a world-class player and plays with a lot of confidence and energy every game. It's not about points and goals; he was phenomenal our last game. Maybe the goal will satisfy the media people, but in that room we believe what he's doing out there."
Alain Vigneault: "Our whole team, I thought, played a strong game. We didn't give them much as far as opportunities. We had some real good looks; we just couldn't score. I think both teams are battling real hard, but I liked the way we played."
Lundqvist: "I think we do a lot of good things out there, but it has not been enough to win. We need to dig deep here to just find a way to win. There are a couple things we can do better, but there are also a lot of good things out there. It's hard to just name one thing as to why we lost this game."
Letang: "I thought the first two periods we did a great job on the penalty kill, and the shot-blocking was great,"
Martin gave credit to Fleury for leading Pittsburgh to the win with another outstanding performance. "That's the way he plays. He has that confidence playing that way and wants to stop the pucks. He's been great for us and building off how he finished in the regular season, but we just can't take so many penalties."
Los Angeles @ Anaheim 3-1 - Kings Lead Series 2-0

They were largely outplayed in Game 1. They are without two starting defensemen. They have gone long stretches without putting shots on goal. Yet the Kings have put up a serious roadblock in the first Freeway Series. Marian Gaborik grabbed the NHL goal-scoring lead in the Stanley Cup Playoffs and the Kings leaned on Jonathan Quick (36 saves) and their indestructible defense in a 3-1 win against the Sucks in Game 2 of the Western Conference Second Round series on Monday at Honda Center. Los Angeles took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-7 series despite getting outshot, 37-17. Gaborik's sixth goal of the postseason and Alec Martinez's second goal in as many games was enough support for Quick, who didn't see much traffic on his way to another victory. Since it dropped the first three games of the first round, Los Angeles has won six straight, including four on the road. That 3-0 series deficit to the San Jose Sharks was 13 days ago. Game 3 is Thursday at Staples Center (10 p.m. ET; NBCSN, TSN, RDS), where the atmosphere won't be entirely different considering the hordes of people whose "Go Kings Go!" chants again had to be drowned out by Sucks fans. Kings fans were no doubt pleased with the defensive execution by Los Angeles, which has held Anaheim to three goals in two games after the Sucks scored six and five goals in the final two games of the first-round series against the Dallas Stars. The Sucks have not scored an even-strength goal since midway through the third period of Game 1 against the Kings, who have veteran defensemen Willie Mitchell and Robyn Regehr out with injuries. Frustration was evident in the Sucks dressing room for a team whose strength is offensive depth. Anaheim held a 12-5 shot advantage in the second period, but Los Angeles put bodies on bodies and constricted space to limit second chances. The Sucks had two power plays and put three shots on goal in that period. Sutter and the Kings cited Quick as the reason for victory, but the Sucks told a different story. Martinez was an offensive force in March, and he's rediscovered his scoring touch in the playoffs. His shot from the left point went off Sucks wing Jakob Silfverberg and past Anaheim goalie Jonas Hiller's right shoulder at 12:07 of the first period to give Los Angeles a 2-1 lead. Martinez, who had one goal and five assists in 33 playoff games before this season, has two goals and three assists in nine games. Anaheim vowed to get better on the power play, and it got its crowd back into the game with a 4-on-3-advantage goal when Patrick Maroon's cross-crease feed to Corey Perry went in off the skate of Kings defenseman Jake Muzzin to tie it 1-1 at 9:40 of the first. That snapped a string of 19 straight penalties killed by Los Angeles, dating to Game 4 of the first round. Gaborik simultaneously silenced Sucks fans and delighted Kings fans 34 seconds into the game when he sprinted past Sucks defenseman Ben Lovejoy in transition on the left side and beat Hiller high. Including the playoffs, Gaborik has 11 goals in 28 games with the Kings. It was a bad start and a bad finish for Anaheim, which must win four of the next five games against one of the best defensive teams in the NHL. Kings defenseman Jeff Schultz filled in for Regehr and played 19:58 in his first NHL game since March 31, 2013.

Martinez: "You kind of lose track of time in the playoffs. It's either a game day, or not. It's important not to get too high or too low. We'll enjoy this one tonight, but there's still a lot of work to be done. I know [coach] Darryl [Sutter] stresses 'No one has to be great, everyone just has to be good,' and I think right now we're getting big plays out of a lot of different guys, and it's been the difference in the past six games. We've to got learn from our mistakes tonight and learn what we did well and hopefully roll it in once we go back home."

Sutter: "It doesn't even feel like being on the road. We've played really good in this building here in the regular season. The biggest thing for us, tonight, quite honest … we needed four lines and six defensemen to be really good for us in terms of an even-strength game."
Getzlaf: "I'm ticked off right now. We're in playoff time right now. There are no excuses for anything. We have to be better, I have to be better, and I expect our group to respond. Traffic's a big thing. We were nowhere near the net tonight when it came to shots from the point. We can watch the video and we'll see it all. We all see it from the bench and we've just got to change that when we go out on the ice."
Boudreau: "Yeah, we're depressed right now. But we'll build ourselves up tomorrow and we'll be ready for Thursday. We've been there, that's why we believe we can accomplish this. We've gone on lots of streaks against good teams and been successful. Obviously we're playing a good team that's peaked at the right time, but I think we've got the capabilities to dig in deep and doing what we need to do."