A Slap to Sid: New York Rangers Beat Pittsburgh Penguins 4-0

If the Rangers were going to beat the Penguins at the Garden on Monday night, they would be forced to do a few things:

1)      Get an early lead

2)      Make the Penguins pay when they got a power play

3)      Neutralize Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin

4)      Get a stellar performance from Henrik Lundqvist.

Well, the Rangers did just that and it all culminated in a well-earned 4-0 victory over their Atlantic Division rivals. The win vaulted the Rangers back into first place in the division.

Step one was getting an early lead, and after Maxime Talbot went off for boarding 31 seconds in, Nigel Dawes checked that off the list. His wrister from the left circle went off a Penguin skate and into the net exactly one minute in to put the Rangers on the board, and giving Dawes his third goal in the last four games. This was a surprise considering how awful the Rangers man-advantage has been as of late. But it would only get better for the Blueshirts.

With the second period winding down, the Rangers capitalized on another power play opportunity, completing step number two. Matt Cooke went off for interfering with Brandon Dubinsky and off the face-off, Paul Mara blasted a slapper from the blue line past Marc-Andre Fleury for a 2-0 advantage. It was Mara’s third tally of the season.

The Rangers added two more in the third, one by Drury as he one-timed a puck right in front of Fleury of a great pass from Petr Prucha behind the net. It was Drury’s 11th of the year. Then, Scott Gomez tapped in an empty netter with the Penguins on a power play to give New York the 4-0 lead.

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