Another Game 7 brought another big night for Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist.
New York was outshot 36-20 by the Pittsburgh Penguins in the deciding game of their second-round series, but Lundqvist stopped 35 of those 36 Pittsburgh shots, and goals from Brian Boyle and Brad Richards were enough to lead the Rangers to a 2-1 win Tuesday night.
It was the fifth straight Game 7 victory for Lundqvist and the Rangers, dating back to the first round in 2012. New York also needed seven games to eliminate the Flyers in their first-round series this year.
The Rangers fell behind 3 games to 1 in the series before winning games 5, 6 and 7 to advance. It’s the first time in the franchise’s 88-year history that they overcame a 3-1 series deficit.
Boyle’s goal put the Rangers ahead a little more than five minutes into the first period, and the Rangers took a 1-0 lead into the dressing room after one period.
The Penguins evened the game up on a goal by Jussi Jokinen a little more than four minutes into the second period, but the Rangers would retake the lead a little less than three minutes later on Richards’ fourth of the playoffs, which was scored on the powerplay.
Lundqvist made the lead stand up the rest of the way, stopping all 13 shots to face him in the third period.
A viewing party was held for Rangers fans at Stout, a bar in Manhattan.
The fans there were obviously thrilled with the outcome and confident the team can go even further.
“Great game played by everybody,” said one fan at the bar. “Holy moly. Wow.”
“Oh my God, Lundqvist brought it the entire night,” said another fan. “It was an amazing game.”
“Montreal, Boston, you got no chance. I hope you saw what happened tonight. Lundqvist is shutting you down,” said a third fan, who also said that Boston can stay there and “eat chowdah.”
The win sends New York to the conference finals for the second time in three years, where they will play the winner of the second-round series between the Boston Bruins and Montreal Canadiens. A decisive Game 7 in that series will take place Wednesday night.
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