Rangers vs. Penguins: Game 4 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2015 NHL Playoffs

The New York Rangers were thoroughly outplayed to start Game 4 on the road of their opening-round NHL playoff series against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Wednesday.

Then the Presidents' Trophy winners found another gear, pushing the Penguins to the brink of elimination with a 2-1 overtime victory at Consol Energy Center. New York owns a commanding 3-1 series advantage as the scene shifts back to Madison Square Garden on Friday.

In overtime, Rangers star Martin St. Louis controlled the puck behind the Pittsburgh net and threw it in front on a wraparound attempt.

A scuffle ensued in front of Penguins goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury, and Carl Hagelin slipped a pass to rookie Kevin Hayes, who rapped it home for the game-winning goal at 3:14.

The Rangers' official Twitter account added context to the significance of the precocious Hayes' contribution:

Pittsburgh had its fans engaged early, carrying over its late Game 3 offensive flurry to Wednesday's opening period. After scoring the club's lone goal in the prior contest, Pens right winger Patric Hornqvist lit the lamp again just over two minutes into the game to seize the early momentum.

Setting traffic was a problem for the Penguins for most of Game 3, but they did a fine job of setting a screen on New York star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to get on the board first.

Josh Yohe of the Tribune-Review observed how the Rangers struggled to even get shots on net for the first period or so:

ESPN's Linda Cohn described how easy Lundqvist's counterpart, Fleury, had it to start:

But the Blueshirts' best was yet to come. They pressed forward and out-shot the home team, 13-8, in the second period, highlighted by the equalizer scored at 17:15 by Derick Brassard, marking his third goal of the postseason.

Boston.com's Stephanie Vail captured the gritty goal, which occurred after the Rangers simply threw the puck at the net:

Rick Nash logged an assist on the play, and the Rangers' official Twitter account illustrated how he seems to be exorcising his playoff demons of the past:

Prior to Game 4, Brassard all but guaranteed a victory.

"We're just going to look for some other guys to step in and score some big goals," he said, per the New York Post's Brett Cyrgalis. "And if we defend well and our goaltending is good, I don't see ourselves losing this game."

When others couldn't score, the dynamic, two-way forward took matters into his own hands. It was key for New York to actually get on the board amid its second-period surge, and it set up yet another epic finish between these two talented teams.

NHL.com's Dan Rosen noted how Penguins star Evgeni Malkin certainly didn't rise to the occasion until rather late in Wednesday's proceedings:

Hayes eventually paid heed to Brassard's imploring for others to assert themselves on the playoff stage—and not a moment too soon.

Just before overtime started, the Rangers' net was exposed in the final minute of regulation before defenseman Dan Girardi cleared the puck and stopped it from going across the line.

Girardi also had a huge blocked shot on Pittsburgh's Chris Kunitz not long before Hayes' decisive goal, which ESPN.com's Scott Burnside reacted to:

Bob Pompeani of KDKA-TV in Pittsburgh praised how well the Rangers hung tough:

Although it seems like a dire situation for the Penguins, they can take solace in the fact that they defeated the Rangers in the Big Apple quite recently. If Pittsburgh can grind out a victory in Game 5, the series returns to the Steel City, and from there anything can happen.

Since one goal has decided each game in the series, the disparity between the two teams in the win-loss column is a bit deceiving. However, the Blueshirts are showing signs of being a true Stanley Cup contender through their ability to come out on top more often than not in these tightly contested battles.

Brassard's pregame words and relentless effort to tie the game at 1-1 embody the toughness these Rangers seem to have when adversity strikes. Whether the inconsistent Penguins can do a better job handling such moments will determine how much longer this series goes on.