WELL, AT LEAST THE RANGERS GOT A POINT – A STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION? 

  Game Summary                          PIT: M. Murray (W)  NYR: H. Lundqvist (OT)        Event Summary

–       POWER SURGE – The Blueshirts were 2-for-6 (8:01) on the power play in tonight’s contest and tallied both power play goals on a double minor penalty assessed to Pittsburgh in the second period. The Rangers registered two power play goals on a double minor penalty for the first time since Feb. 17, 2016, vs. Chicago. New York has tallied a power play goal in four of seven games this season and has registered two power play goals in three of those contests. The Rangers have recorded at least seven power play goals in their first seven games of a season for the first time since 2009-10 (nine).

–       FOUR SCORE – The Rangers registered four goals in tonight’s game. The Blueshirts tallied at least four goals in a home game for the 19th time since the start of last season.

–       IN A NEW YORK MINUTE – The Rangers tallied two goals in a span of one minute in tonight’s contest (Pavel Buchnevich – 7:32 of the second period; J.T. Miller – 8:32 of the second period).

–       SHOOTING GALLERY – The Rangers registered 32 shots on goal in tonight’s game, and 13 of 18 Rangers recorded at least one shot on goal. The Blueshirts have recorded 30 or more shots on goal in each of the last four games and in six of seven games thus far in 2017-18.

–       HOT AT THE DOT – New York won 30 of 59 faceoffs in tonight’s contest (50.8%). The Rangers have posted a 50.0% faceoff win percentage or better in five of seven games this season.

–       PITT STOP – The Rangers have earned at least one point in 15 of their last 20 games against the Penguins, dating back to Apr. 3, 2013.

–       FULL HOUSE – Tonight’s game was the Rangers’ 278th consecutive sellout (231 regular season games, 47 playoff games over the span). The Blueshirts’ sellout streak dates back to November 3, 2011.

–       J.T. Miller tied a single-game career-high with three points (one goal, two assists), recorded a power play goal, and posted a plus-two rating. Miller posted the third three-point game of his NHL career in tonight’s contest (Feb. 18, 2016, at Toronto; Oct. 30, 2016, vs. Tampa Bay). He has recorded an assist/point in four of the last six games, registering seven points (two goals, five assists) over the span. Miller leads the Rangers in points (seven) and is tied for the team lead in assists (five) thus far this season.

–       David Desharnais registered two points (one goal, one assist), including his first goal as a Ranger, won seven of 12 faceoffs (58.3%), and posted a plus-two rating. Desharnais has notched an assist/point in each of the last two games (one goal, two assists), and he has also recorded five points (four goals, one assist) in his last three contests against the Penguins. Desharnais has posted a faceoff win percentage of 50.0% or better in six of seven games thus far this season.

–       Michael Grabner tallied a goal, recorded three shots on goal, and posted a plus-one rating in tonight’s game. Grabner tied for ninth in the NHL – and led the Rangers – in even-strength goals during the 2016-17 season (26).

–       Pavel Buchnevich recorded a power play goal and registered two shots on goal. He has tallied a point in three of the last five games (one goal, two assists) and in four of seven contests in 2017-18 (one goal, three assists).

–       Mika Zibanejad notched a power play assist, led all skaters – and tied a single-game career-high – with eight shots on goal, and won 10 faceoffs in 18:51 of ice time. Zibanejad has registered a point in five of seven games in 2017-18 (five goals, one assist), and he has recorded five of six points this season on the power play.

–       Kevin Shattenkirk recorded an assist in 19:22 of ice time in tonight’s contest. He has tallied a point in five of seven games this season (two goals, four assists in the seven contests), and he leads Rangers defensemen in goals (two), assists (four), and points (six) in 2017-18.

–       Mats Zuccarello tallied an assist in 20:04 of ice time in tonight’s game. Zuccarello has notched six points (one goal, five assists) in seven games this season, and he is tied for the team lead in assists in 2017-18.

–       Ryan McDonagh recorded a power play assist and led the Rangers with four blocked shots while skating in a team-high 26:55 of ice time in tonight’s contest.

–       Tony DeAngelo registered his first assist/point as a Ranger and recorded two shots on goal in 17:56 of ice time.

• Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers head coach

On the team’s frustration after losing a tough game…

“There’s no sense in being frustrated. It’s about playing the game and playing it the right way. We started off tonight not making the simple plays, but you have to like the way we battled back. We came back really strong in the second and third. We carried most of the play, had a lead. You could say that was icing on the play, we could say maybe Kevin (Shattenkirk) shouldn’t have touched the puck. At the end of the day, right now, it’s a little challenging as far as putting the whole game together for us, but this group is very accountable and is working extremely hard and I am very confident that if we keep doing a lot of the things we’re doing right now, we’re going to be on the right track.”

On McDonagh’s turnover in OT…

“You guys know as much as I do how much he cares and how much he wants to do the right thing. There’s always that fine line between doing too much to help the team. Ryan is a great captain and a great person and he’s going to do like the rest of the team and work himself out of this, and we’re going to be on the right track real soon.”

On how frustrating Kreider’s penalty was while on a 5 on 3…

“I mean, he got pushed by the goaltender, and I think the momentum just pushed him on the D. I don’t really think I can fault him for that. I looked at the replay but I’ll have to see it again. But it’s just a part of the game.”                 

• Mike Sullivan, Pittsburgh Penguins head coach 

On his feelings about the game’s outcome…
“I thought we had a great first period. I really liked how we played. We controlled momentum, we made good decisions with the puck, we had numbers back. We stayed on the right side of the puck and the right side of people for a lot of the period. The second period I thought there were a number of penalties that were taken, and it’s just hard to get into the flow. It got away from us and fortunately what I love about our group is that we stick to it, we just stay with it. It was an ugly win, but it was a win. We know we have to improve and get better in a lot of areas. I think in the third period we were pressing to get that tying goal and we became a high-risk team while doing that. We are not a pressing team, I think the lesson here is just to continue to play the game the right way and we will score. We are well aware of when we play the game the right way and when we don’t and I think tonight was a little bit of both.” 

On whether or not the power play goal in the second period is what gave them the win…

“That power play goal that we got in the second period was a huge goal. I think the five-on-three goal was a huge turning point in the game as well. Those guys did a great job. I don’t think they had a scoring chance it was two minutes long. They did a terrific job there and I think our bench got a lot of juice from that. Obviously, the power play gets an opportunity in that period, and for me, that’s when in those types of moments, good power plays show themselves. When you score in those situations I think those types of moments are bigger than any statistical number or percentage that power plays come up with, when you score at key times to help your team win or climb back into a game. That for me is an indication to that you have a good power play and our guys did it for us tonight.”

• Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers goaltender

On how difficult this loss is…

“It’s really frustrating, disappointing, hard to accept.  I thought we battled back really well in this game, played a strong game.  We played against a really good team and we made it tough for them at times throughout the game.  A lot of good things.  To sit here and not come up with the two points at the end with the way we played down the stretch, it hurts.”

On the game-tying goal…

“He banged it off me.  It’s not the first time that happened.  As a goalie, you just need to make sure you’re alert.  I try to just deflect the pass but when he goes right at it like that, sometimes you need some luck.  Obviously, I did not have that luck in that situation.  I don’t know what else to say – it was just a tough goal to give up that late in the game.  Sometimes it’s easier to face a shot than to have a play like that where my stick is there and it’s just a bad bounce, that’s what it is.”  

On his mindset to overcome this adversity…

“You just have to focus on the good things.  We are doing a lot of good things.  As a team, we played really well tonight.  I think personally it was a good game, but then you give up the late one and a minute later it’s over in overtime.  We were really close to responding the way we need right now, we just have to do it in the next game.”

• Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers defenseman

On what transpired in overtime…

“Giveaway by me.  A costly mistake, obviously huge.  I obviously let the team down in overtime.” 

On whether he was caught by surprise on the final play…

“I mean I should be able to make a read there and keep it on the boards instead of trying to go through them.  A really, really bad hockey play by me.”

On how to overcome tonight’s loss…

“We were playing some really good hockey the second half of that game.  Special teams were doing their job.  Five-on-five we thought we were doing the right things there after a shaky start, but it’s a heartbreaker, a crusher there giving up that tying goal and ultimately losing.”

• Marc Staal, New York Rangers defenseman

On tonight’s game…

“We gave ourselves a chance going into the third period all tied up. We got the goal we needed, we just weren’t able to close it out. It’s tough to find wins right now. It’s not easy for us to get a win. We’re trying to get across that line where we’re consistently playing well enough to get some wins. We were close tonight. We’ll look at some stuff that we can build on and go from there.”

On the adjustments made after the first period…

“We were a little more aggressive on our forecheck, we were smarter with the puck and we were not afraid to make plays. We were making some good plays and giving ourselves some good scoring chances. We started taking the game over and drew some penalties. We did some good things.”

On what to take from this game going forward…

“I like the way we played in our second and third period. We responded down by two against a team that’s not easy to come back on. We’ll go over it the next couple of days, look at some video, work on some things in practice and continue to get better.”

• Sidney Crosby, Pittsburgh Penguins forward

On tonight’s game …

“We had some ups and downs in the game. We started off good, lose the lead, give it up there late and then climb our way back. Those games don’t happen every night, but it’s a good test when they happen. We responded the right way.”

On what the team needs to work on after tonight’s game …

“We have got to find a way to limit other team’s chances. It starts with trying to stay out of the box. We give them momentum when we do that. It’s hard to keep everyone in the game and hard to get that momentum when you have to keep killing. So we have to find ways to do that a little bit better, then I think we’ll give ourselves a little better chance to gain momentum. When these games happen, you have to respond the right way, and I thought we did that.”

• Carl Hagelin, Pittsburgh Penguins forward

On penalties in tonight’s game …

“We know what the rules are, but we took some stupid penalties – myself included. They are going to call every slash nowadays. We have to be aware next game. We can’t be in the box as much as we were.” 

On his first goal of the season …

“Always nice to get it, especially in this building. I have a lot of good memories here and a lot of friends in the stands.”

–       Tomorrow (Wednesday, Oct. 18): Practice, 12:00 p.m. at MSG Training Center

–       Next Game: Thursday, Oct. 19 vs. NY Islanders (7:00 p.m. ET – TV: MSG Network)

*Schedule subject to change

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