4-Goal Burst by Rangers Takes Focus Off Penguins

The Rangers seemed almost like an afterthought Wednesday, with Sidney Crosby and the glamorous Penguins making their HBO debut later in the night, many talking about the Winter Classic on Jan. 1 at Heinz Field, and Pittsburgh leading this game by a goal. It seemed that way until Erik Christensen and Alex Frolov scored 15 seconds apart midway through the third period, starting a four-goal avalanche that gave the Rangers an inspirational 4-1 victory.But the victory was costly. The Rangers lost Ryan Callahan, their No. 2 scorer and in many ways their leader, to a broken left hand. Preliminary estimates were that he would be out six weeks.“I’ll say it once: it’s a huge injury,” Rangers Coach John Tortorella said. “But we have to move by it. Someone else has to step up and fill that hole.”
The late, come-from-behind victory — their second in two visits to the Consol Energy Center — revealed the Rangers as legitimate contenders.
They have consecutive wins over the Penguins and the Capitals, the two teams starring in HBO’s “24/7” series.
Coming into this game, all the talk in Pittsburgh was about the Penguins’ loss the night before to the Flyers, their archrivals at the top of the
Eastern Conference, and about their “24/7” debut.
Anything but the Rangers.
Before the game, Penguins Coach Dan Bylsma said he was concerned about the Rangers, but even he framed that concern in terms of the Flyers.
“Part of me is worried we’re not fully ready after playing an emotional game against Philly, a first-place team,” Bylsma said — prophetically, as it
turned out.
The Penguins scored first on a lovely Evgeni Malkin goal set up by Crosby late in the first period. Crosby froze defenseman Dan Girardi with a fake

slap shot, then passed softly to Malkin, who finished deftly. That extended Crosby’s point-scoring streak to a career-high 20 games.

It also seemed as if it would get the Penguins back to a winning stride after the Flyers ended their 12-game winning streak, which began the night

HBO cameras first entered the Penguins’ dressing room.

The Rangers’ victory came on a night when they got back Chris Drury, their captain, from an eight-week absence because of a broken finger — and

lost Callahan, their probable future captain, to a broken hand.

Callahan went to the dressing room just 4 minutes 42 seconds into the game after blocking a shot by Penguins defenseman Kris Letang during his third shift.
Callahan entered the game leading all N.H.L. forwards in blocking shots, a risky feature of his game. Drury is also a forward who specializes in shot-blocking; he first injured his right index finger in training camp, blocking a shot during a scrimmage.
Callahan has 10 goals and 23 points in 32 games. His all-out shot-blocking and body-checking — he is No. 2 in the N.H.L. in hits — exemplify the Rangers’ new style of grit and terrier-like puck pursuit.
Drury played well in only his second game of the season, creating a shorthanded two-on-one break in the first period and contributing 26 solid shifts.
The Rangers played what Tortorella called a “patient” game, forechecking diligently to hold the Penguins to 1-0. That allowed them to pull even on
Christensen’s laser snap shot past goalie Brent Johnson with 9:50 to play.“Everyone kept saying, Just one shot, one shot, and it just so happened to be the shot I took that went in,” Christensen said. “Once you get a
point or do something good, the rest of the game just kind of flows. You get a jolt of adrenaline, and it seemed to go through the whole team after that first goal.”
Frolov backhanded home a loose puck 15 seconds later to put the Rangers in front. With 5:05 left, Artem Anisimov scored. With 3:31 left, Brian
Boyle scored.
An apparent Penguins equalizer from Malkin with 6:19 left was waved off when officials ruled that Pascal Dupuis interfered with Henrik Lundqvist, who finished with 27 saves.
The last two victories for the Rangers, who return home to play Phoenix on Thursday, raise a question. Is the wrong team on HBO?