Penguins vs. Rangers: Game 3 Score and Twitter Reaction from 2016 NHL Playoffs

With another goalie making his playoff debut in Matt Murray, the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the New York Rangers 3-1 at Madison Square Garden to claim Game 3 of their Eastern Conference first-round matchup to take a 2-1 series lead.

The rookie Murray, who relieved first-time playoff starter Jeff Zatkoff after he allowed four goals in Game 2, made 16 saves on the night as he didn't see too much rubber. New York's 17 shots on an inexperienced goaltender in the playoffs just weren't enough. 

Only five Rangers had more than one shot on goal, and three of them were defensemen.

Pittsburgh's defense did its part to try to limit shots seen by Murray with 15 blocks, but New York's offense couldn't keep up with the Penguins, who threw 31 shots on Henrik Lundqvist's goal.

The Rangers looked like they'd scored the game's opening goal in the first period after Chris Kreider finished off a rebound. But a Pittsburgh challenge revealed that J.T. Miller was offside entering the Penguins' zone:

Madison Square Garden had to wait a bit longer to celebrate a good goal, and Rick Nash was the one who provided it 39 seconds into the second period as Kevin Klein sent him on a short-handed breakaway.

Coming down the left-hand side, Nash sent a quick wrister top-shelf blocker side to put the Rangers up 1-0, via the NHL:

The short-handed chance was Nash's only shot of the game. As the team's best goal-scoring forward, that isn't enough.  

He is a player, though, who has received criticism for scoring just 10 goals in 62 career playoff games before Tuesday. Therefore, the Record's Andrew Gross thought something was wrong:

It was the first blemish of Murray's young playoff career, as the Sporting News' Jesse Spector jokingly pointed out:

More than halfway through the game, thanks to Lundqvist's play in net, the Rangers still had the lead despite putting just 13 shots toward the young Murray's goal in the first 40 minutes. 

It would finally come back to bite them, though.

Pittsburgh found an answer on the power play with 42 seconds left in the second period when Phil Kessel fed Sidney Crosby, who had been silent in Game 2, for a redirect in on the right post.

The NHL showed Crosby's last-minute equalizer: 

Retired player Colby Armstrong provided some insight as to how difficult it was for Crosby to convert the chance:

The Penguins beat the Rangers in Game 1 through late goals in the period, and nabbing one four minutes into the third period grabbed them some momentum. 

Pittsburgh took the lead when the Rangers' indecisiveness at the blue line presented Matt Cullen with a breakaway opportunity, via the NHL:

The 39-year-old, who finished his 22nd regular season in the league, was able to beat Lundqvist through the five-hole. It was his 13th career playoff goal with his seventh different team. 

The seemingly ageless center wowed Dave Molinari of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and got him thinking:

Down a goal, the Rangers upped the intensity thanks to physical play, but they couldn't get many more shots to Murray's goal. 

With Lundqvist pulled, Kris Letang put the icing on the cake with an empty goal with 12.1 seconds left. The Rangers just couldn't find a way to penetrate the Penguins defense and establish possession in the zone despite the extra attacker.

For the most part, finding offensive success in the NHL has to do with the volume of shots put on goal. The Rangers will not win another game in the playoffs if they put up single-digit-shot outputs in every period of a game, especially against a hot Penguins team that is far too talented for New York to rely on just Lundqvist. 

The Rangers have until Thursday's Game 4 to work with the offense and get things back on track. They'll need to take advantage of their home-ice advantage too. If they get swept at Madison Square Garden, they'll have to win three-straight games, two of them in Pittsburgh to pull off the upset. 

Post-Game Reaction

Murray, like Penguins starter Marc-Andre Fleury, was dealing with injury problems at the end of the regular season. Murray sustained an upper body injury in the final game of the regular season against the Philadelphia Flyers, which opened the door for Zatkoff to start. 

He made the most of his chance on Tuesday as he spoke with the media about his health, via Dan Rosen of NHL.com:

At 21 years old, Murray was feeling the nerves like any youngster making his first playoff start would, via Rosen:

His composure on the big stage impressed his teammate Ben Lovejoy, who might have not been so mature at that age, via Rosen:

Including the regular season, Murray is now 10-2-1 in his young career and has given Pittsburgh a stalwart of a backup this season. 

The Rangers will have to go to the tape if they want to find a way to beat Murray as his weaknesses haven't been revealed yet. 

Once New York starts firing on goal and Murray reveals a soft spot, then this series will most likely heat up again.