Pittsburgh Penguins beat for the second time this season New York Rangers. The duel between Evgeni Malkin and Artemy Panarin ended in a brilliant triumph for Gino. Khlebushka had to watch the jubilation of an experienced Russian from the penalty box.
After last year's playoffs, relations between Pittsburgh and the Rangers reached a new level. Hockey veterans from the Penguin camp have not yet forgotten the very fatal goal of Artemy Panarin in overtime of the seventh game of the series and the trolling performed by Igor Shesterkin, who answered the provocative chants of the Pence fans, and therefore remained full of desire to take revenge on the Galactikos gang from Manhattan.
During the current season, the teams have already met twice. At the very end of the calendar year, the Penguins won a strong-willed victory (3:2) on their site, and Evgeni Malkin, who scored a goal, took direct part in it. The second victory of two happened today. Initially, it seemed that Mike Sullivan's team would take over the Blueshirts without any problems, but the Penguins could not do without a share of the thriller.
From the very beginning of the match, Pence took possession of the game and numerical advantage: the Rangers got as many as three removals within the first five minutes from the moment of the starting face-off and played twice in a 3-on-5 format. Pittsburgh confidently realized their chance. Evgeni Malkin could drink a cup of coffee, thinking about how to draw a scoring attack, and, without waiting for resistance from the defenders, calmly rolled back to Sidney Crosby. The Pence's captain instantly continued on to Ricard Raquell, who «flashed» Shesterkin's replacement Yaroslav Galak.
Subsequently, the owners of “PJPJ Paints Arena” dominated and surpassed their guests in all key parameters: on shots on target, possession in attack, success on throw-ins. The Penguins were not even embarrassed by Barclay Goodrow's goal in the middle of the first period – the advantage in the account was returned already in the debut of the 20-minute period. But by the end of the meeting, it was time for the real show. Gerard Gallan again shuffled all the links, “Rangers”, and his wards began to play hard and even on the verge of a foul. Thus was born a goal that seemed to save the guests from New York.
Vincent Trochek, who appeared in the top three with Chris Kreidr and Patrick Kane, was seriously cut down with Evgeni Malkin. First, Gino spent his power on the American center forward, and then he knocked down the Russian super scorer twice. Moreover, Trochek's second hit against Malkin turned out to be truly arrogant and unceremonious: the American hit the Russian in the back and knocked him onto the ice, and he himself dispersed the scoring counterattack, which allowed the Rangers to take the game into overtime. The referees did not notice any violation of the rules by the Blueshirt forward.
«I thought it was a foul. But the referees did not see anything. For me, the reaction of my team was an encouraging factor. We just continued to play. I was encouraged by the resilience of the players» , — commented on this episode mentor “Pittsburgh”.
The Rangers did not stop attacking Malkin even in overtime, but this time the referees did not leave Gino's fall unattended. The leader of the Blueshirts, Artemy Panarin, lost his bearings a little and braided Malkin's legs, as a result of which he received a two-minute penalty and let the team down.
Most in overtime, “Pittsburgh” sold without any difficulty. Crosby and Malkin brought another veteran, Chris Letang, to shoot from close range, and he didn't miss. With a second assist of the game, Evgeni Malkin scored his 1216th career point in the NHL championships and climbed to 46th place in the list of all-time leading scorers, catching up with Jeremy Renick. Ahead Larry Murphy (1217 points) and Jean Beliveau (1219). The illustrious Russian will catch up with them and surpass them in the next matches.
As for Panarin, instead of the fatal two minutes of dismissal Khlebushush could get the title of the hero of the match. At the end of normal time, the Russian striker “Rangers” spectacularly and in one graceful movement dealt with three players, “Pittsburgh” and created the most scoring chance. Mika Zibanejad, for some reason, did not complete the combination himself and passed to Vladimir Tarasenko, whose shot did not reach the goal.
3:2 — Pittsburgh slightly improved its position in the Eastern Conference standings and increased the getting into the playoffs. “Rangers” is still looking for the most effective ligaments in attack. For a full-fledged struggle for the Stanley Cup, Gallan should quickly resolve this issue, because there is only a month left until the end of the championship. Management will not understand if high-profile acquisitions at the deadline turn out to be useless.