Rangers lose in overtime to Penguins in playoff-like atmosphere
The winning overtime goal on a shot by Pittsburgh Penguins' Kris Letang gets past New York Rangers goaltender Jaroslav Halak during an NHL hockey game in Pittsburgh, Sunday, March 12, 2023. Credit: Gene J. Puskar
PITTSBURGH — Given that Sunday’s game against the Penguins at PPG Paints Arena was the first of three between the teams in a seven-day period, and given how the teams battled each other so hard for seven games in the first round of the playoffs last spring, Sunday’s matchup had a little bit of the feel of a playoff game.
And it sure looked like one.
“Yeah,’’ Rangers forward Barclay Goodrow said. “It’s a good atmosphere. Two teams that don’t like each other that much. So it’s fun games to play in.’’
And fun to watch. Clearly there is plenty of leftover dislike between the teams, who turned in a tough, playoff-style, hard-hitting game that the Penguins won in overtime, 3-2, on a power-play goal by Kris Letang at 1:38.
Artemi Panarin’s trip of Evgeni Malkin set up the power play for the Penguins (34-22-10, 78 points), who gained a point on the Rangers (37-19-10, 84) and pulled within six points of the Blueshirts for third place in the Metropolitan Division.
After the Rangers host Washington on Tuesday, they will see Pittsburgh again in consecutive games at the Garden on Thursday and Saturday.
Jacob Trouba, Public Enemy No. 1 in Pittsburgh after his hit injured Sidney Crosby in last year’s playoff series, downplayed the rivalry between the teams. He focused on the now-completed three-game road trip to Montreal, Buffalo and Pittsburgh in which the Rangers went to overtime in each game and went 2-0-1.
“Five [points] out of six isn’t bad for a road trip,’’ Trouba said.
Their effort Sunday, when they rallied in the third period to tie it at 2-2 at 9:09 on Chris Kreider’s 28th goal, was “something to be proud of,’’ Trouba said.
“I definitely think that was our best period of hockey that we’ve played since the [trade] deadline,’’ he said. “Just fast. But we made some plays, we got our looks. We can be better still, obviously, but I thought it was trending in the right direction.’’
Having changed his forward lines in the third period Saturday — after saying on Friday that he hoped he wouldn’t have to — coach Gerard Gallant started the game with the line combinations that finished Saturday’s game. That meant Mika Zibanejad was playing between Panarin and Vladimir Tarasenko, Vincent Trocheck between Kreider and Kaapo Kakko, and Patrick Kane with Alexis Lafreniere and Filip Chytil.
By the third period on Sunday, Gallant had changed things again, flip-flopping Kane and Kakko to put Kane with Kreider and Trocheck and Kakko back on the Kid Line with Chytil and Lafreniere. That seemed to work well.
But it was the one line that remained intact, the fourth line of Jimmy Vesey, Goodrow and Tyler Motte, that was the Rangers’ best in the game.
The Rangers, who were called for three minor penalties within the first 5:20 and were down two men twice in the span, were nearly run out of the building in the first 7 1⁄2 minutes, outshot 11-3 and down 1-0 on a five-on-three goal by Rickard Rakell.
But the fourth line tied it on a goal by Goodrow at 11:18 when he jammed in the rebound of a shot by Vesey, who’d won the puck behind the net and came out from behind the right-wing goalpost and fired.
They fell behind 2-1 at 1:21 of the second period when they were pinned in their own end and Jason Zucker’s shot from above the left circle hit Zibanejad’s skate and deflected in.
Late in the period, the game got chippy, with several confrontations and pushing and shoving. The big one happened when Trouba, booed when he touched the puck most of the game, dumped Alex Nylander at the red line. That angered the Penguins, who charged at Trouba, but the only penalty was against Pittsburgh’s Malkin for cross-checking.
The chippiness carried over into the third period and it helped the Rangers tie the score. Trocheck and Malkin exchanged hard hits, t
he Rangers raced up the ice and Trocheck dropped a pass to Kreider, who fired it past goalie Tristan Jarry at 9:09 to make it 2-2.
Notes & quotes: D Ryan Lindgren (upper-body injury) remained out . . . Kreider’s goal moved him past Camille Henry and into sole possession of sixth place on the Rangers’ all-time goal-scoring list with 257.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
