Gomez, Lundqvist Lead Rangers Over Penguins
Scott Gomez scored twice and Rangers held the Pittsburgh Penguins to five shots through two periods en route to a 4–0 victory last night.
Henrik Lundqvist, back in goal after sitting out one game with the flu, needed to make only 18 saves for his sixth shutout of the season and 13th of his NHL career.
Martin Straka and Chris Drury each had a goal and assist, and Michal Rozsival set up three goals for New York, which was 1–4–1 in its previous six and allowed 24 goals in those losses.
Dany Sabourin made 27 saves for the Penguins, who had their lowest shot total of the season after putting up 40 in a 3–2 win at the New York Islanders on Saturday.
Pittsburgh was held to just two shots in the second period and allowed a pair of goals to the Rangers, who enjoyed four power plays in it.
New York only scored on , but that goal by Gomez pushed the lead to 3–0 with 6:39 left in the period.
With the familiar urges from the crowd for the Rangers to shoot the puck on the power play growing louder as the seconds ticked away on Adam Hall's tripping penalty, Gomez let the puck go as he feet straddled the left circle by the goal line.
The shot struck the skate of Penguins defenseman Ryan Whitney in front and redirected past Sabourin for Gomez's eighth of the season and first multigoal game with the Rangers.
Pittsburgh was short-handed once more in the period when Gary Roberts inexplicably rammed into Lundqvist as the goalie reached to catch a pop fly after the puck deflected up off his blocker. The Rangers couldn't take advantage but left the ice having scored as many times as Pittsburgh put pucks on net.
The Penguins recorded two shots in the opening 25 seconds of the third and exceeded their second-period total by the time 1:15 had elapsed. They even earned their third power play of the night, compared to New York's five, but failed to muster the offense to get on the board. Pittsburgh wrecked its chance to get going midway through the period when Tyler Kennedy and Colby Armstrong were whistled for penalties 44 seconds apart, setting up a lengthy 5-on-3 power play that Drury took advantage of with 7:40 left.
Gomez scored his first of the night 1:12 after the opening faceoff, taking advantage of his unfamiliar spot on a line with captain Jaromir Jagr. Straka knocked down a high pass from Jagr and fired a shot that hit traffic in front. Gomez knocked in the rebound. Straka then netted his fifth goal 10:30 into the second when he deflected Marc Staal's shot under Sabourin's glove.
Lundqvist's best moment came about two minutes earlier after Sidney Crosby threw a pick on Staal at center ice and came into the Rangers' zone on a 2-on-1 with Whitney. He gave the puck to the defenseman, but the return pass clanked off Crosby's skate into Lundqvist.
