With their backs to the wall, it was a case of win or go home for the Rangers last night. The mantra in the lockerroom before the game…just avoid the sweep and earn the right to play one more game.
Jaromir Jagr and Henrik Lundqvist were instrumental in leading the Rangers to a 3-0 win, keeping alive their season, for at least one more game.
Jagr turned back the clock and scored two goals, as well as assisting on Brandon Dubinsky‘s third period power play. Immediately following the first goal, Jagr was laid out by a big hit by Brooks Orpik, but didn’t miss a shift in the game.
His late season form and play in the post season has prompted many to call for an encore for the 36 year old winger.
Lundqvist too earned his paycheck, and perhaps had the defining moment in the game when he stopped Malkin first on a breakaway, and then on the ensuing penalty shot, his second such shot this playoff season.
While they still continue to face elimination, there is a little more confidence in the team, and perhaps a little doubt in the minds of their opponents.
The teams will meet now on Sunday in Pittsburgh in Game 5.
It was the first time the Penguins had lost a game this postseason, having swept Ottawa and won the first three in the series.
It seems not just Rangers fans have noticed the play of Jagr in the playoffs. With three points last night, Jagr now is the leading point getter in the playoffs, with 15 points in just 9 games.
Controversy continues to follow the series, with Evgeni Malkin apparently with a deliberate slewfoot on Paul Mara in the dying seconds of the game, a play that earned both Mara and Malkin misconduct penalties for their troubles, and prompted the Rangers defenseman to call Malkin “classless“, claiming the Penguin star had taken out his frustration twice in a dangerous manner.