BING: CROSBY RETURN TO CONQUER BROADWAY 

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NEW YORK RANGERS POST-GAME NOTES
March 15, 2012 (Game 70, Home Game 34)
Madison Square Garden – New York, NY

Team Notes:

• The Rangers were defeated by the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-2, tonight at Madison Square Garden, and are now 2-1-0 on their current seven-game homestand.
• New York has posted a record of 44-19-7 (95 pts.) overall, including a 24-8-2 mark at home.
• The Blueshirts’ 24-8-2 (50 pts.) mark at MSG is their best record at home through 34 games since 1993-94 (23-6-5, 51 pts.).
• The Rangers are now 7-4-2 against the Penguins in their last 13 meetings.
• The Blueshirts held the Penguins scoreless in four shorthanded situations (6:00), and are now 29-32 (90.6%) on the penalty kill in the last 10 contests.  The Rangers’ penalty kill has held opponents scoreless in six of the last eight games (24-26, 92.3%).
• The Rangers out-hit the Penguins, 34-23, and were credited with 17 blocked shots in the contest.
• New York holds a four-point lead over Pittsburgh atop the Atlantic Division standings.

• Marian Gaborik notched a goal, added an assist and registered four shots on goal in a team-high, 22:29 of ice time.  He extended his assist/point streak to four games (three goals, five assists over the span), and has now tallied 32 points (12 goals, 20 assists) in the last 28 games with 13 points (six goals, seven assists) in the last nine.
• Carl Hagelin recorded his second straight multi-point effort with one goal and one assist, registered four shots on goal and was credited with two blocked shots in a career-high, 21:12 of ice time.  He has tallied 14 points (six goals, eight assists) in the last 16 games, including 12 points (five goals, seven assists) in the last 11 games.
• Brad Richards tallied two assists to extend his point streak to five games, registering eight points (five goals, five assists) over the span.  He also tied for the team-high with five shots on goal and led all skaters with 15 face-off wins (15-27, 56%) in 21:56 of ice time.  Richards has now tallied 21 points (seven goals, 14 assists) in the last 19 games, including 15 points (five goals, 10 assists) in the last 11 games.
• Martin Biron made 27 saves and is now 12-5-2 overall, including a 6-2-0 mark at home.
• Brian Boyle was credited with a team-high, five hits, registered two blocked shots and won 12-19 face-offs (63%) in the contest.
• Dan Girardi was credited with four hits and tied for the team-high with three blocked shots in 21:55 of ice time.

New York Rangers Transaction Update:

• New York Rangers President and General Manager, Glen Sather, announced following the game that goaltender Chad Johnson has been assigned to the Connecticut Whale of the American Hockey League (AHL).  Johnson was recalled earlier today on an emergency basis.

Post-Game Quotes:

John Tortorella on tonight’s game…

“We had some struggles on the back end as far as their quickness, and they capitalized. We had some really good scoring chances. We were gaining momentum in the second, at the end of the second, but it doesn’t take them too many chances to score some goals and they certainly showed that tonight.”

Brad Richards on tonight’s game…

“We get them (Pittsburgh) one more time. We’re still in first place and we’re still a good team. We have guys coming back soon and we are going to keep plugging away and looking toward Saturday now and getting those two points.”

Dan Girardi on tonight’s game…

“We were good on the fore-check, sustaining pressure. We were controlling the five-on-five play. Obviously I thought we did a decent job on the penalty kill; they have such a good power play. We’ve got to look at the good things but see what we did wrong and try to correct them for Saturday.”

Team Schedule:

• The Rangers will return to action when they face-off against the Colorado Avalanche on Saturday, Mar. 17, at Madison Square Garden (7:00 p.m.), in the fourth game of their seven-game homestand.  The game will be televised live on MSG 2 and can be heard on Bloomberg Radio.