After stunning the Maple Leafs over the weekend, the injury-riddled the Blueshirts returned home to face the playoff-chasing Penguins. For the second consecutive game, Georgiev was put into net following a decision by Henrik Lundqvist to rest himself to get Alexander more opportunities in the big leagues.
Even if this may seem like a scary storyline for New York fans, the 38-year-old is making the right decision in placing games in the hands of the young netminder. unfortunately for the Rangers, Georgiev was outdueled by Penguins’ Matt Murray who stopped 33 of 35 shots.
The Rangers actually got out to a hot start and rattled Pittsburgh by netting the first two goals of the game. Brendan Lemieux, who has been a force for New York since he was acquired in the Kevin Hayes deal, finished off a beautiful passing sequence to break the ice at 8:25. With Chris Kreider sidelined, Lemieux took the place of him playing along side Zibanejad and Buchnevich and stepped up big time. The 23 year old took a difficult pass from Buchnevich, but he was able to pull his stick back and whip home a shot to the near side. Lemieux currently leads all rookies this season in goals/60 minutes. Another young gunner for the Blueshirts stood up to the plate on the powerplay just seven minutes later. Vinni Lettieri, who has not been able to find his game in the Nhl when given numerous chances, finally showed off his wicked right handed shot. Tony Deangelo threw the puck across to Lettieri and Vinny beat Murray clean for bhis first goal of the season. All momentum would be halted their as only 26 seconds later Nick Bjugstad lit the lamp and Pittsburgh never looked back.
The Pens were able to score the next four goals of the game on just 19 shots as they took advantage of a weary Rangers team. (Justin Schultz, Matt Cullen, Teddy Blueger(x2))
Following tonight’s rough loss to Pittsburgh, the Rangers will have a scheduled off day tomorrow before returning to action on Wednesday night against the Bruins.
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