Depleted Pens stand firm against Rangers

The Penguins were rocked with the new that Malkin would be out 6-8 weeks before their matinee game against the New York Rangers this Sunday. That was a big blow and the Penguins called up Dominik Simon and Conor Sheary to make up the roster after Wilson's injury.

Dominik Simon was drafted in 2015 from the Czech Extraliga after being passed over in previous drafts. It makes him the second Penguins player to appear in the NHL from last years draft after Daniel  Sprong. Conor Sheary was undrafted Collegiate player signed two years back. Both were key in this win.

The Rangers started the game the dominant of the two teams consistently peppering Fleury with some early shots and putting him under a lot of pressure. They managed to get 19 shots on target in the first period compared to the Penguins 13. However, despite their early dominance and sustained pressure they went into the first break tied.

Hornqvist was very lucky to bank his puck in off Lundqvist after some great work by Letang on the Penguins powerplay to keep the puck in. Crosby got an assist on the goal extending his current point streak to 8 games. The Rangers, deservedly, got a goal to break Fleury's shut-out after some poor offensive zone work by Kunitz which resulted in a turnover and an easy 3-on-2 breakaway for Kreider to score on.

The second period was all about Conor Sheary who had his first two goal game with the Penguins and in the NHL. His first one came out of nothing really, the Penguins cycled the puck in the Rangers zone and Schultz took a shot from deep which was deflected over Lundqvist and in. The Rangers responded quickly on the powerplay but Sheary scored his second near the periods end to give the Penguins a 3-2 lead. He received a nice dish pass from Kuhnhackl in centre ice and took a shot whilst skating in that beat Lundqvist.

By the third period the Rangers shot dominance had diminished and they were reduced to just 2 shots in the second and 6 in the third. McDonagh scored a wrap-around early in the third, Fleury should have done better to cover his post. But the Penguins hard work and determination would not be undone and Matt Cullen scored a lucky goal off Staal's skate to get the Pens the lead with 9 minutes left.

The Penguins held off and ended it with an empty net goal from Sidney Crosby with just 39 seconds left. Dominik Simon, mentioned early, had his first point on Cullen's goal and had a great game. He had a rough start but got stuck in and played a great physical game. The player of the game was of course Conor Sheary. A guy of diminutive size who should be harder to stop. But he took full advantage and deserves the applause. The funny thing is that Malkin's injury has caused a nice problem of which WBS players to keep up for this season and in the future. Which is a nice problem to have when you're up against the cap.