Penguins Grab Fifth Straight Win, Jagr Moves Up on Goals List
It took five rounds of a shootout, but the Pittsburgh Penguins (25-10-1) persevered with their injury-depleted team and defeated the New York Rangers (16-17-2), 4-3, on Wednesday night. The Penguins have now won five straight games, including 10 of their last 11 ones.
Brandon Sutter
Brandon Sutter got the winning score in round five of the shootout and for the night, he was joined by Pascal Dupuis and Chris Kunitz, who scored for the team during regulation. Sutter gave the team a 3-1 lead in the third period but the Rangers came back with two scores to tie it up before ending in a shootout.
Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury and 29 saves; he stopped the five by the Rangers during the shootout.
The Penguins played without center Evgeni Malkin, four defensemen and wing James Neal, who has been serving a five-game ban. Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said of the roster via the Associated Press, “If everybody got healthy tomorrow, you’d talk about a significant group of guys getting back in the lineup. I don’t think how we play — expectations, style of play, game plan — really changes much by getting one or two players back or getting everybody back.”
Captain Sidney Crosby had no goals but contributed two assists.
On Thursday, the Penguins will host the Minnesota Wild (20-11-5). Malkin will remain out but Neal will return.
For the Wild, they’ll be without goalie Josh Harding, who was put on the team’s injured reserve list Wednesday. Harding will be out until Dec. 27 as he is changing his treatment plan for his multiple sclerosis, reported ESPN. The team will miss him as he is 18-5-3 and is the league’s leader with his 1.51 goals-against average and .939 save percentage.
In his place, Niklas Backstrom (2-5-2, 2.93 GAA) will get the starting nod. The team has also recalled Johan Gustafsson from the AHL in Iowa to help out.
Vegas gives the Penguins their sixth straight win on Thursday (-135, 5 o/u). They sit at the top to win the 2014 Stanley Cup at 7/1.
For the Rangers, Derick Brassard, Carl Haglein and Mats Zuccarello and Carl Hagelin all scored while goalie Henrik Lundqvist, in his seventh consecutive start, had 29 shots (out of 32). He took a hard hit by Kunitz in overtime, falling to the ice, but he shook it off.
Lundqvist said of the hit via NHL.com, “A lot of times when you stick your head out like that and focus on the puck, it’s kind of hard to take a hit. It just happened fast, I guess. I expect to be pretty stiff and sore tomorrow. I’m just happy it wasn’t worse than that. I didn’t see him coming at all.”
The Rangers were seeking a second straight win but fell short. On Friday, they’ll play the New York Islanders (9-19-7). The Rangers sit at 28/1 to win the 2014 Stanley Cup.
In other NHL news…
In the New Jersey Devils (14-15-6) 5-2 win over the Ottawa Senators (14-6-6), Jaromir Jagr hit his 693rd career goal–now No. 8 on the all-time goals list–and with 122nd game winner, he has now passed Gordie Howe for the most in league history.
Jaromir Jagr
With his next goal, Jagr will then be tied with Mark Messier for the seventh spot place on the NHL goals list. The player, who snapped an eight-game streak without a goal, said of the achievements via NHL.com,”It’s a long streak for me without a goal. [Dainius Zubrus] did a great job to shut me down for eight games.”
He currently leads the team with 12 goals.
Devils goalie Martin Brodeur won game No. 10 for the season with his 23 saves while his rookie center Reid Boucher got his first NHL score.
The Devils have won two in a row and will look for a third win on Friday against the Anaheim Ducks (24-7-5). They sit at 40/1 to win the 2014 Stanley Cup while the Ducks are 16/1.
