A RANGERS RARITY, BAD THIRD PERIOD 

     VERSUS     

NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES

January 19, 2012 (Game 45, Home Game 21)

Madison Square Garden – New York, New York

Team Notes:

–        The Rangers were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 4-1, tonight at Madison Square Garden, and are now 12-4-0 in their last 16 games.

–        New York has posted a record of 29-12-4 (62 pts) on the season, including a 14-5-2 mark at home.  The Blueshirts maintain a one point lead ahead of Boston for first in the Eastern Conference standings, and rank first in the league with 62 points.

–        The Rangers have posted a 7-3-0 record in their last 10 home games.  The Blueshirts’ 14-5-2 (30 pts) mark at MSG is their best start at home through 21 games since 1995-96 (16-2-3, 35 pts).

–        The Blueshirts’ penalty kill was 2-2 (2:37) against the Penguins, and has now held opponents scoreless in 11 of the last 12 games (25-26, 96.2% over the span). New York is 50-55 (90.9%) on the penalty kill with five shorthanded goals in the last 21 contests.

–        The Rangers out-hit the Penguins, 38-31, led by Brian Boyle who was credited with a game-high, six hits.  The Blueshirts entered tonight’s contest leading the NHL with 1,281 hits on the season.

Player Notes:   

–        Carl Hagelin notched the Rangers’ lone goal at 10:06 of the second period, registered four shots on goal and logged a career-high, 19:15 of ice time.  He has now recorded eight points (four goals, four assists) in the last 12 games.

–        Marian Gaborik tallied the primary assist on Hagelin’s second period goal to extend his assist streak to three games.  He also registered a game-high, six shots on goal in 20:38 of ice time.

–        Henrik Lundqvist stopped 32 of 35 shots, and is now 20-10-4 overall with a 10-5-2 mark at home.  It is the 13th time this season Lundqvist has registered 30 or more saves in a game, and he is now 7-5-1 with a 2.13 goals against average, .939 save percentage and one shutout in those contests.

–        Ryan McDonagh registered an assist and logged 24:17 of ice time in the contest.  He has now recorded five assists in the last 10 games.

–        Brad Richards won a game-high, 12-16 faceoffs (75%) in the contest, and he leads the team with a 52.2% faceoff winning percentage (383-734) on the season.

–        Dan Girardi was credited with four hits and three blocked shots in 22:57 of ice time.

Post-Game Quotes:  

–        John Tortorella on the last five games…

“We’re alternating through here. I guess everybody is used to those five game winning streaks, those seven game winning streaks. It’s not going to be easy. It’s going to be a grind through a couple months. I think our players understand that.  Again, I don’t think we played poorly tonight. We gathered ourselves and I thought we played really well, but for a space of five minutes, we had some bad reads, some brain-dead reads and a couple struggles with some players.  They [Pittsburgh] are that good, that quick and that good, and they beat us.”

–        Henrik Lundqvist on tonight’s game…

“I don’t think we played that bad.  It’s all the little details that at the end will be the difference.  We have to do everything, if not perfectly, really well to win games.  Every night it’s tough to win, especially now when teams come in and expect a tough night.  We have to work really hard to get our points.  We always have been working hard to get wins – that’s not going to change.”

–        Ryan Callahan on responding to the loss…

“I think everyone is still pretty confident in here.  You’re going to have stretches throughout the year where you’re going to get some losses, but I think the big thing is how we respond.  We have to try to make sure these don’t build up.  Throughout the year we’ve responded well after losses, and we have to do the same going into Boston.”

Team Schedule:

–        The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Boston Bruins on Saturday, January 21, at TD Garden (1:00 p.m.), in an Original Six matinee match-up.  The game will be televised live on MSG Network and can be heard on 1050 ESPN Radio.