Rangers can’t take advantage of Sidney Crosby’s absence, lose 3-2 to Penguins
The stage was set for the New York Rangers’ third straight win. The Pittsburgh Penguins were coming into Madison Square Garden on Friday night without longtime nemesis Sidney Crosby, who was sidelined with an upper-body injury, AND Evgeni Malkin, who missed his fourth straight game with a lower-body injury. The sellout crowd of 18,006 was primed to see the Blueshirts move two points closer to a playoff berth in the Eastern Conference by defeating a hated rival.
There was just one problem: Someone forgot to tell the Penguins they were supposed to lose – and they didn’t. Instead, the undermanned visitors outplayed the Rangers for most of the night and skated away with a 3-2 victory that left New York stuck at 12th in the Eastern Conference, five points behind the idle Detroit Red Wings for the second wild-card spot. This was New York’s game in hand on Detroit, so a real wasted opportunity.
The Rangers led 1-0 and 2-1 on goals by Vincent Trocheck in the first period and Adam Fox early in the second. But Bryan Rust set up goals by Rickard Rakell and Philip Tomasino less than three minute apart midway through the middle period to put Pittsburgh in front to stay.
New York picked up the tempo in the third period, controlling play when the Penguins were mainly content to clear their zone and do their best to minimize the Rangers’ scoring chances. New York outshot Pittsburgh 7-0 in the final period, piled up a 32-3 advantage in shot attempts and had two failed power plays.
As per NHL Stats, this was the first time this decade in which a team won a one-goal game despite having zero shots in the third period.
Unfortunately for the Rangers, Pittsburgh goalie Alex Nedeljkovic was flawless in the final 20 minutes, finishing the night with 22 saves and helping the Penguins improve to 3-0-1 in their past four games. The Rangers failed in their effort to win three in a row for the first time since Nov. 14-19.
Asked about a lack of intensity by his team, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said simply, “It was. That’s unacceptable,” before cutting short his very brief postgame press conference.
Trocheck’s comment was even more succinct: “Inexcusable.”
Related: Why Trent Frederic likely won’t be option for Rangers ahead of NHL trade deadline
Pittsburgh Penguins 3 – New York Rangers 2
Each team had a good chance right off the hop. J.T. Miller forced Nedeljkovic to make a big save 11 seconds into the game, and less than a minute later, Anthony Beauvillier almost made the Rangers pay for a turnover by Ryan Lindgren when he got the puck while open in the slot, but Shesterkin denied him.
The Rangers had three shots on Nedeljkovic in the first 25 seconds, then went shotless for the next 8:06. But their next shot turned into the game’s first goal.
Penguins defenseman Eric Karlsson had the puck in the left wing corner and tried to make a quick pass up the middle, only to have Alexis Lafreniere get a piece of the puck. Trocheck picked off the pass and quickly beat Nedeljkovic at 8:31 for his 17th of the season and a 1-0 lead.
Pittsburgh got the game’s first power play at 10:32 when the Rangers took a bench minor for too many men following a bad line change. The Penguins entered the game in an 0-for-13 slump but had a couple of good chances, with Shesterkin denying Michael Bunting from the lower left circle and stopping Emil Bemstrom in a scramble as the advantage ended.
Shesterkin gave the sellout crowd an anxious moment when he appeared to have injured his blocker hand after a scramble in the final 90 seconds, but he was able to stay in the game after some medical attention. The Rangers left the ice with a 1-0 lead despite being outshot 11-8 and out-attempted 27-9 in a period that saw just 13 face-offs and was dominated by the Penguins everywhere but on the scoreboard.
The Penguins kept coming and finally got even at 2:25 of the second period. Karlsson started the play by picking off a pass by Matt Rempe in the neutral zone; Lizotte ended it by beating Shesterkin from the right circle.
But the Rangers went back in front just 1:14 later when Fox capped a nice passing play by beating Nedeljkovic from the right face-off dot.
However, the Penguins continued to outskate the Rangers and pulled even again at 9:07 when Rickard Rakell finished off a 3-on-2 rush with a quick shot from the low slot that Shesterkin only got a piece of. It was the team-high 26th goal for Rakell, who was filling in for Crosby as center on the top line.
Will Cuylle was sent off for tripping Beauvillier at 11:02, and this time the Penguins capitalized. Bunting’s pass from the right boards was tipped by Rust right to Tomasino, who quickly blew a wrister past Shesterkin to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead.
Shesterkin kept the deficit at one goal with just under three minutes left in the period by standing tall in the crease and denying three chances during a scramble. But the Penguins got their third power play at 17:52 when Reilly Smith was called for tripping Beauvillier. Shesterkin made three saves to keep the score 3-2 after two periods; the Penguins left the ice with a 26-17 advantage in shots and a 54-28 margin in attempts.
The Rangers came out for the third period with the kind of jump they hadn’t exhibited in the first two periods. They controlled play and held the Penguins without a shot on goal.
“We weren’t ready the first 40,” Trocheck said. “We outplayed them in the third by a lot, had tons of opportunities, but we can’t wait. We can’t have that.”
New York finally got a power play when Pierre-Olivier Joseph was called for interfering with Jimmy Vesey with 6:15 remaining, but they generated just one shot on goal and were serenaded with boos as the penalty time expired.
The Rangers got another power play with 2:36 remaining when Bunting was called for holding Fox. But even with Shesterkin lifted for an extra attacker, creating a 6-on-4 advantage, the Rangers generated little push until the last 30 seconds, when the Penguins blocked three consecutive shot attempts and Nedeljkovic stopped Mika Zibanejad.
Joseph made one last shot block before time ran out.
The Rangers had come from behind in the third period to win each of their previous two games, but Fox said that formula isn’t sustainable.
“If you dig yourself a hole going into every third period,” he said, “you’re going to come out behind.”
The Rangers won’t have much time to worry about a game that got away. They jumped on a plane to Columbus for a Saturday showdown with the Blue Jackets at Nationwide Arena in their final game before the break for the 4 Nations Face-off, which begins Wednesday in Montreal. Six Rangers are taking part in the tournament – Zibanejad for Sweden, Urho Vaakanainen for Finland, and Fox, Trocheck, J.T. Miller and Chris Kreider for the United States.
More About:New York Rangers News