from Larry Brooks of the New York Post,
Sometimes — most of the time, really — Game 1 is just one game of a best-of-seven with minimal enduring consequence.
But not this Game 1 of Rangers-Penguins, on Wednesday night. And not this Period 1 of Round 1.
Because in this period, the Rangers not only failed to take advantage of the fact the Penguins were forced to start third-string goaltender Jeff Zatkoff in the wake of head injuries to Marc-Andre Fleury and Matt Murray, but also the Blueshirts lost Henrik Lundqvist to a right-eye injury.
And, poof, just like that, the singular advantage the Blueshirts brought into this series had evaporated into the night that ended in a 5-2 defeat in their worst Game 1 performance of any playoff series since facing Buffalo in the second round in 2007.
The injury to Lundqvist, sustained when Marc Staal’s stick blade somehow snaked through an opening in the King’s mask and caught the goaltender around the right eye with 48.2 seconds remaining in the first period, is not believed to be serious, though it is unknown whether he will be fit for Game 2 duty when the series resumes Saturday afternoon.
But even if there is no lasting damage to Lundqvist, the cause was surely damaged by the Rangers’ failure to inflict hockey damage on Zatkoff, a 28-year-old journeyman who began the night having played 200 games in the AHL and 35 in the NHL.
Game highlights are below...
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