Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinals had some upside for the Rangers — at least they got a couple pucks past Marc-Andre Fleury. The bad news — the Rangers defense couldn’t get enough stops to pull out a victory.
Henriq Lundqvist finally got some help from his offense but it was not enough to overcome the Pens in Game 4.
Photo credit: Attila Mag
Now, the Penguins return home for Game 5 in hopes of closing out the series.
The game started out badly for the Rangers, giving up a goal to Evgeni Malkin less than 3 minutes in. The Rangers would come back to tie it early into the 2nd period, but gave up a short-handed goal to Brandon Sutter with less than 2 minutes remaining in the period.
Seven minutes into the third, Jussi Jokinen put one past Lundqvist. Jokinen has been on a tear throughout the playoffs — he now has 6 goals.
The Rangers, which have been shutout in the last two games, got goals from both Carl Hagelin and Mats Zuccarello. However, the Rangers only managed to get 15 shots on goal compared to Pittsburgh’s 27.
But it was not only the Rangers’ offense that was lackluster. Their defense was sloppy in controlling the puck, leading to a couple of goals. Multiple attempts to clear the puck landed on Pens’ sticks, and a turnover by defenseman Anton Stralman led to Pittsburgh’s first goal.
The Penguins have recently enjoyed playing in Madison Square Garden; they’ve won 12 of the 16 games played at MSG since Dan Bylsma was named coach. Overall, Pittsburgh is 9-2 in New York during the playoffs.
The Rangers have put themselves in a huge hole and really haven’t had a bright spot through the last three games. Game 5 will take place Friday at 7pm in Pittsburgh.