For Pittsburgh, tonight’s first period was one to forget.
The Pens went into the intermission down 2-0 in Game 1 of their second-round series with the Rangers after Marc-Andre Fleury allowed a relatively weak opening marker, which was followed by this highly questionable offside call on defenseman Olli Maatta:
Just 11 seconds after that, Brad Richards scored his third goal of the playoffs on a nice setup from Carl Hagelin and Dan Girardi:
Overall, it was a rough start for the Penguins -- though that’s hardly anything new this postseason. Pittsburgh spotted Columbus a 3-1 lead in Game 1 of their opening-round series, only to storm back and win 4-3.
In Game 3, the Pens watched the Blue Jackets jump out to a 2-0 lead, only to mount another comeback and win 4-3 once again.
Update: There was some discrepancy as to what the wrong call was on the initial play -- it was reported the play was actually whistled due to an illegal hand pass by Sidney Crosby to Maatta.