Rangers vs. Penguins: Game 1 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NHL Playoffs

Behind third-string goaltender Jeff Zatkoff and Patric Hornqvist's hat trick and one assist, the Pittsburgh Penguins continued their scorching-hot play from the regular season to defeat the New York Rangers 5-2 at CONSOL Energy Center in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference's first round on Wednesday night. Dating back to the regular season, the Penguins have won 16 of their past 18 games.  

It was bad enough that the Rangers dropped their postseason opener, but they also lost star goaltender Henrik Lundqvist to an eye injury after one period of play. Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault told Tom Gulitti that he will be "day to day." 

It overshadowed the blow Pittsburgh received before Game 1 began. Goalie Marc-Andre Fleury had to sit out of Wednesday night's game because of lingering concussion symptoms. 

Instead of having a goalie who recorded 35 wins with a career-best 2.29 save percentage, the Penguins were forced to go with Zatkoff, who went 4-7-1 in 14 appearances this season and never started a playoff game before Wednesday.

Zatkoff finished the regular season as the team's third choice in goal behind Matt Murray, but he suffered a head injury in the regular-season finale, a meaningless game against the Philadelphia Flyers. 

CBS Pittsburgh's Tim Williams anticipated some heavy criticism heading toward Penguins head coach Mike Sullivan:

But Zatkoff stepped up to the occasion and stopped 35 of 37 shots while outdueling the combination of Lundqvist and Antti Raanta.

The Rangers were determined to test the inexperienced goalie too, launching shots from anywhere in the offensive zone given the opportunity. But Zatkoff was not timid on the big stage as he aggressively challenged New York's shooters during an early barrage in which the Rangers outshot the Penguins 12-3. 

Dave Shapiro of Blue Seat Blogs caught Zatkoff's first save of the night, which probably did wonders for his confidence:

The New York Daily News' Peter Botte was impressed at Zatkoff's start:

"

Zatkoff is the early favorite for the Conn Smythe.

— Peter Botte (@PeterBotte) April 14, 2016"

The Rangers soon dealt with goalie problems of their own when the stick of teammate Marc Staal hit Lundqvist in the eye with 48 seconds remaining in the first period. He received some eye drops and managed to return for the final seconds. 

Yahoo Sports' Greg Wyshynski caught the moment and had some advice for Staal:

With just 17.6 seconds remaining in the period, Pittsburgh broke through first thanks to a strong forecheck by Conor Sheary, who centered a pass from behind the net off of Lundqvist's pad to a charging Hornqvist, who jammed home the chance. 

The NHL showed Pittsburgh's old-school goal:

Things got even worse for the Rangers when Raanta took over goaltending duties at the start of the second period, as TSN's Frank Seravalli noted:

Pittsburgh didn't do much to challenge Raanta upon his arrival, as it didn't record a shot for the first nine minutes of the period. It was just one of numerous opportunities the Penguins let slip away as they came up empty on four power plays in the game's first 32 minutes. 

The Rangers, though, couldn't take advantage of the Penguins' inability to put the game away, as New York couldn't get past Zatkoff. 

Davril Lavignezo of Vice Canada had a change of heart after Zatkoff stole the show:

Nearing the final minute of the second period, captain Sidney Crosby put the Penguins up two when he received a great outlet pass from Hornqvist to send him on a breakaway.

There were no moves or dangles—just a flick of the wrist, via the NHL:

The shot floored TSN's Darren Dreger:

With the Penguins leading by two goals in the third period, a power play presented the Rangers with a golden opportunity to get back into the game. On the same sequence, Carl Hagelin received a double-minor high-sticking penalty, and Ian Cole received an interference penalty, giving the Rangers the five-on-three advantage for two minutes. Derek Stepan cashed in to cut their deficit to one. 

With over two-and-a-half minutes remaining on Hagelin's penalty, the Rangers still had plenty of power-play time, but the Penguins restored their two-goal lead thanks to a short-handed tally by Tom Kuhnhackl.

Per Blueshirt Faithful, it was a cruel twist of fate:

If Kuhnhackl's goal ripped out Rangers fans' hearts, then they were stomped on when the Penguins converted on the power play 2:30 later when a shot by Crosby deflected off the leg of Phil Kessel in the crease and was pushed in by Hornqvist. 

WFAN's Chris Lopresti didn't sugarcoat the Rangers' performance:

But New York continued to show fight, and Stepan picked up his second goal of the game after pounding home a juicy rebound left by Zatkoff with 9:49 remaining. 

It wasn't nearly enough, though, as Hornqvist put the icing on the cake with an empty goal with 2:50 remaining to get his hat trick. 

Four of Pittsburgh's five goals came from the first line of Hornqvist, Crosby and Kessel, a unit the Rangers simply had no answer for. That's a bad omen for New York if it wants any chance of surviving this first-round matchup.

With the Rangers licking their wounds, attention will fall to Lundqvist, as it's clear he will have to steal a few games for New York because its defense can't keep up with the Penguins. 

On the other hand, it looks like everything is coming up gold for Pittsburgh, who threw in a goalie who hadn't made a start since Feb. 20 and stood on his head against a proven playoff team. With this kind of momentum and production from all corners of the roster, it will be hard to bet against the Penguins moving forward. 

Post-Game Reaction

While Fleury's injury was a surprise to many, it wasn't a surprise to Zatkoff, via Jonas Siegel of the Canadian Press:

It was well before his teammates found out, as Siegel reported that they learned of the goalie situation at 6 p.m. ET, about two hours before puck drop. 

Sullivan disclosed why he waited so long to let everyone know, per Siegel:

Because it worked once, Sullivan is sticking to the plan moving forward as he told the media, via Siegel that "we'll let you know" when Fleury is ready to go. 

On the New York side of the goalie situation, Vigneault didn't provide much of an update on Lundqvist after the game, via NHL.com's Dan Rosen:

Even though it's early in the series, it already feels like the stats of Lundqvist has the Rangers' playoff hopes hanging in the balance. 

If he's able to go, the Rangers might get a boost needed to get back on track in this series. All they need to do is steal Game 2 and all the momentum could shift in their favor heading back to Madison Square Garden. 

It's a tall task given how the Penguins have been playing lately, but the Rangers are a team that's made at least the Eastern Conference final in three of the previous four seasons. So if there's a team that can find a way to win in the playoffs, it's the Rangers. 

Stats courtesy of NHL.com.