Penguins score five unanswered goals to beat Rangers

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Following Saturday night’s outstanding win over the Toronto Maple Leafs, the Rangers returned home to face Sidney Crosby and the Penguins. And while Alexandar Georgiev was in goal once again, he wasn’t able to reproduce his heroics from Saturday as the Rangers dropped a 5-2 decision at Madison Square Garden.

Brendan Lemieux – Since being acquired from the Winnipeg Jets at the trade deadline, Brendan Lemieux has done a little bit of everything for David Quinn’s squad. He throws his body around, grinds in the corners, blocks shots, and has the offensive skills to put up points. In the first period, Lemieux finished off a pretty passing play with his line mates Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.

Lemieux also drew a couple of penalties in this one, as he continues to show what he can to for his new team.

Vinni Lettieri – He’s been shuttled between Hartford and New York for most of his professional career and Lettieri is trying to show that he’s worth consideration for next year’s club. With the Blueshirts on the power play in the first period, Lettieri hammered a one-timer from the circle to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead.

John Gilmour – For as impressive as he was at the end of last season, John Gilmour has struggled mightily since being called up. He looked out of position tonight, unsure of what to do with the puck, and just generally lost when he was on the ice. Hopefully, for Gilmour, he can get his game together before the season ends, because this is not the first impression he wants to make on David Quinn.

Passing Up Shots – No matter who the coach is, it seems like the Rangers are constantly passing up opportunities to shoot the puck. And we aren’t talking about long distance shots through traffic; we are talking about high quality chances from inside the top of the faceoff circle. The Rangers need to kick this bad habit of passing up chances to get the puck on net, because if you don’t put the puck on net, you don’t score. And if you don’t score, you don’t win.

Alexandar Georgiev – It was not one of his better nights in the crease as the young goaltender gave up five goals, including a couple he’d want back. Matt Cullen’s goal to give the Penguins the lead was a short side goal that beat Georgiev over the shoulder. A great shot, but one Georgiev could’ve stopped if he’d been in better position. The fifth and final goal of the game, which was scored by Teddy Blueger, came after Georgiev was unable to squeeze the shot from Brian Rust and Blueger was able to deposit the rebound. Another learning experience for the Belarusian netminder.

Next Game: The Rangers head to Beantown for an Original Six matchup with the Bruins on Wednesday night. Puck drops at 730!

LETS GO RANGERS!!

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