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New York’s third line ‘chemistry’ making a difference

Rangers Senators Hockey

New York Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello (36) celebrates his goal agains the Ottawa Senators with teammates Derick Brassard (16) and Benoit Pouliot (67) during the third period of an NHL hockey game in Ottawa, Saturday, Jan. 18, 2014. The Rangers won 4-1. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Fred Chartrand)

AP

PITTSBURGH -- Many teams don’t expect a lot of offense out of their third line, but the New York Rangers are happy to buck the trend.

The Rangers line centered by Derick Brassard with Benoit Pouliot and Mats Zuccarello on the wings provided two goals, including the game-winner, in New York’s 3-2 overtime win in Game 1 against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

“Since Christmas they’ve probably been our most consistent line,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “They’ve got real good chemistry, they read off one another and support one another well. Again tonight they were good with the puck, strong on the forecheck, and they scored two in overtime.”

Vigneault joked around, but the Rangers left no doubt they won the game. While it was Brassard’s overtime goal that ended it, it took video review to figure out it was his goal and not Pouliot’s follow up that ended the game.

“I thought it was in,” Brassard said. “The sound of the back post and the main post is different. I felt like it hit the inside of the goal. It doesn’t really matter, we got the job done after.”

The wackiness of the overtime winner aside, that line is one that’s been playing well for a while now and it’s one they feel helps make the Rangers a deeper team.

“I think it’s been like that for a little while,” Pouliot said. “I think playing with Brass and Zuccs, they’re such good playmakers. They know the game, they read the game, they see you wherever you are. It’s just a matter of chemistry. I don’t know, we’re just finding each other. We have a different role, every guy has a different role on that line and we’re really doing our job.”

“Chemistry” has been the buzzword for everyone on that line and they had success against the Penguins in the regular season as they scored six goals against them then. Chemistry came in handy again on Friday night after the Rangers blew an early 2-0 lead.

“I think we really enjoy playing with each other. We try to make a difference,” Brassard said. “I think we’re a pretty hard team to handle. We play four lines -- three scoring lines, one checking line that’s really hard to handle. If we’re on our game, I think we’re pretty hard to handle. We always try to score more goals. We got scored on in the second period and we talked to each other said we have to get this back.”

It may have taken until overtime, but getting that one goal back helped give the Rangers the first step they were looking for in the series.

Follow @JoeYerdonPHT