Phil Kessel got his first goal of the 2016 Stanley Cup Playoffs on Saturday afternoon and, boy, what a goal it was. During the second period of Penguins-Rangers Game 2 at CONSOL Energy Center, Kessel managed to open the scoring with a goal that came as a product of some great defense and even better puck movement.
Pens forward Patric Hornqvist had an amazing effort on the backcheck, diving to knock the puck loose and deny a Rangers scoring opportunity, while also simultaneously opening up play in the other direction. Nick Bonino received a breakout pass from a teammate and fought off a Rangers defender before finding Trevor Daley with some awesome sauce. Daley one-timed the pass back towards a rushing Kessel, who finished off the sequence by burying the puck on a mostly open net.
Rangers netminder Henrik Lundqvist, who was back in net after leaving Game 1 with an eye injury, did his best to stay in the play but, honestly, there really wasn’t much he could do to combat puck movement like that. Just an absolutely beautiful play at both ends of the ice by Pittsburgh.
