PITTSBURGH — The last time the Rangers were here, Henrik Lundqvist wasn’t quite so thrilled with the officiating. You might remember a stick being smashed over the crossbar followed by the broken stick tossed in the direction of a referee followed by some angry words and insinuations following a 3-2 overtime victory in which the Penguins had six power plays to his team’s none.
Last night, following the Rangers’ 4-1 victory in which Evgeni Malkin’s apparent goal that would have tied the match 2-2 with 6:19 remaining was waved off immediately by referee Dean Morton because of Pascal Dupuis’ incidental contact in the crease with the goaltender, The King was whistling a different tune.
“They got it right,” Lundqvist told The Post through a wide smile. “When they get it right, we can win here.”
Dupuis drove to the net behind Michal Rozsival and appeared to hinder Lundqvist just as Malkin was firing from the right wing.
“I was at the top of the crease and he came in behind me,” said Rozsival, who either nudged or was brushed by Dupuis on his way to the net. “I wasn’t in the paint. It was a good call.”
The fans booed loudly when the replay was shown on the scoreboard video screen. Pittsburgh coach Dan Bylsma was not happy.
“I don’t see why everybody was so upset,” Rozsival said through a sly grin. “It was a good call.”
Before last night, the Rangers and Penguins had played 15 games here since the beginning of the 2006-07 season. The Blueshirts had been given 60 power plays to the Penguins’ 86. The larger problem was that the Rangers had gone 3-for-60 (3-for-60!) with Pittsburgh going 17-for-86.
The Blueshirts were 1-for-3 last night, with Erik Christensen converting to tie the game at 1-1 midway through the third. The Penguins were 0-for-3.
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The Rangers have played all season without Vinny Prospal
, last year’s second-leading scorer, because of a knee injury. They went without leading scorer Marian Gaborik
for 12 games because of a separated shoulder and had Chris Drury
for just one of the first 32 games before last night because of a twice-broken finger.
Now it is likely the Rangers will play in the neighborhood of the next six weeks without Ryan Callahan
, who suffered a broken left hand blocking a Kris Letang
shot just 4:42 into last night’s match.
The injury is believed similar to the one suffered last year by Brandon Dubinsky
, who was out from Nov. 7 to Dec. 14 with a broken hand sustained blocking a shot, though Callahan will know more after he’s examined today in New York.
“My heart just goes out to him,” said Drury, who sustained this training camp break the same way in addition to the broken wrist he suffered blocking a shot on the eve of the 2009 playoffs that rendered him all but useless. “It was a hell of a block, but that’s how we have to play.
“But it’s hard to see a guy go down like that.”
John Tortorella
could be seen sagging momentarily behind the bench when trainer Jim Ramsay
whispered the news to him during the first period.
But Tortorella wasn’t feeling sorry for himself or the team after the match.
“That’s a huge injury. I’ll say it once, that’s a huge injury, but we have to get by it and find a way to win,” Tortorella said. “Someone else has to step up, take the minutes and fill that hole.
“We handled ourselves pretty well through some injuries this year, and this is another one we have to handle.”
Tortorella said he had yet to discuss a roster move with GM Glen Sather
, who did not make the trip. Mats Zuccarello
, who has scored six goals in his last 11 games for the AHL Whalers and is 12-10 in 29 games will receive consideration, but there are questions about his skating and his ability to play top-six minutes.
The Rangers could shirt Drury into Callahan’s spot on the line with Dubinsky and Artem Anisimov,
recalling Dale Weise
to play on the fourth line with Sean Avery
and Christensen, who received 7:43 and 7:41, respectively.
Avery fought with Aaron Asham
at 3:58 of the third and did not get on the ice again. Christensen did not get on after getting his power-play goal.