It's no surprise that the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers needed overtime to decide a game one winner. This was the 16th time in the Stanley Cup playoffs that a game has gone to overtime this year.
The Rangers hadn't played in any of those overtime games until tonight, while the Penguins had played in two during their first round series with the Columbus Blue Jackets.
At 3:06 of the overtime period, Derick Brassard decided to end the game with his first goal of the playoffs. Beniot Pouliot forced the Penguins defenseman, Rob Scuderi, to turn the puck over behind his own net. Pouliot managed to get a pass through a maze of sticks and over to Brassard, who wristed the puck high over Marc-Andre Fleury's shoulder. The puck went in and out of the net so fast that the refs didn't even notice that a goal was scored. The teams kept playing with Fleury flopping around his net and his teammates blowing defensive coverage, the puck found its way back to Pouliot and he put it in the net again. A replay showed that Brassard's shot actually went in the net.
The Penguins came out flat in the first period and seemed like the team playing their fourth game in six days. The Rangers came out and took a 2-0 lead in the first period. Dan Girardi blocked a shot, Pouliot picked up the puck and skated it right into the Penguins zone and fired one right past Fleury for the goal. At 17:03 of the period, Girardi dumped the puck into the Penguins zone and this time Carl Hagelin won the puck battle along the boards. Hagelin got the puck to Brad Richards and he tucked it past the Penguins goalie for the 2-0 lead.
The Penguins looked like a completely different team in the second period. They were battling hard and getting the puck towards Henrik Lundqvist. Lee Stempniak finally got the Penguins on the board on a backhand shot. Marcel Goc passed the puck to Beau Bennett and Bennett crossed over and made the nice drop pass to Stempniak, who made a move and put the puck in the net.
The Penguins tied the game at two after a goal by James Neal. Evgeni Malkin picked up the puck in the neutral zone, and dished it off to Jussi Jokinen. Jokinen then made the drop pass to Neal, who took the shot and Lundqvist made the save, but the puck went up into the air and then came back down and into the net. The goal was reviewed to make sure that Malkin hadn't played the puck with a high stick while it was in the air, but the goal stood because Malkin never touched the puck at all.
The Penguins out shot the Rangers 15-4 in the second so Lundqvist was the busier of the two goalies that period.
The third period was evenly played with both teams getting their chances. Lundqvist had to make a save with only 11 seconds left in regulation to force the game into overtime. The Penguins out shot the Rangers again but this time it was only by a 12 to eight margin.
The next game is Sunday at 7:30 on NBCSN. If the Penguins want to even the series, then they're going to have to have a better start to the game. The Rangers need to be a little tighter defensively than they were in the second period of game one. If either team can manage to get its power play going, then that could be a key to winning the series.
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