The New York Rangers made a triumphant entrance into Stanley Cup Playoffs 2015 by emerging as the winners of the President’s trophy with most points (113 points) during their regular season.
Their first rivals to start off the playoff series were the Pittsburgh Penguins who finished their season as the second wildcard earning a total of 98 points. This was the sixth time these two adversaries were facing off with each other in the play offs with the Pittsburgh Penguins leading by having won four of the last five encounters. Their last meeting was in the previous year’s Eastern Conference Semi Finals in which the New York Rangers emerged as victorious in seven games.
As far as this year’s regular season is concerned, the New York Rangers have had a pretty good run and have won three of the four games that they have played. The New York Rangers have defeated the Penguins in a total of five games.
In the first game, both Derick Brassard and Ryan McDonagh scored for the Rangers while their goalie, Henrik Lundqvist, successfully managed to stop 24 out of 25 shots directed towards the goal, resulting in a 2-1 victory of Rangers over the Penguins.
In game 2, Sidney Crosby stole the limelight with his extra ordinary performance by scoring two goals in a span of 4:39 helping his team to victory by 3-1.
The Rangers scrapped off another win over the Penguins in the third game with the end result being 2-1.
In the fourth game, the rookie center Kevin Hayes scored a match decisive goal at 3:14 into overtime to lead his side to yet another victory over the Penguins.
The Rangers then sealed off the series with the third consecutive 2-1 victory over the Penguins in the fifth and last game of the series. Carl Hagelin took the series home with a goal at 10:52 into overtime.
The Rangers will now face the Washington capitals in the semifinal of the Eastern Conference. Their first game will be conducted at the Madison Square Garden on Thursday at 7:30 pm.