Rangers coach Peter Laviolette on PK units: They were fantastic

PITTSBURGH — After one of the Rangers’ early season wins in which the team’s penalty-killers had a standout performance, coach Peter Laviolette described his man-down specialists as “courageous.”

Laviolette heaped more praise on them after the penalty-killers came through again in Wednesday night's 1-0 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena.

“Oh, they were fantastic,’’ Laviolette said of the PK units, which killed all five Pittsburgh power plays, including three of them in the third period. “They block so many shots, sacrificing themselves like that. It gets frustrating, too, when you can’t get your shot through on the power play, so you’ve got to give the penalty killers a lot of credit.’’

Rangers forward Nick Bonino, who blocks his share of shots on the PK unit, said: "It's always a challenge. But I think the biggest thing is, as that (third) period goes on, we don't get to get all the guys out (on the ice), guys who aren't on the kill. Sometimes you get too many minutes, and it's nice when you can roll the bench and play (all the forward lines) even.

“I think some of those calls we weren’t thrilled with. But when that happens and you’re not getting them going your way, you’ve just got to kill them, and I thought we had blocks everywhere. We had good clears, good pressure and great goaltending. And that’s what it takes.’’

Bonino, who leads all NHL forwards in blocked shots, was credited with four in the game. Defenseman Jacob Trouba had a game-high five and the Rangers had a total of 25.

Quick loses his catching glove

Jonathan Quick gave up a goal in the first period that appeared to tie the score at 1, but the Rangers challenged the play for offside and the goal was disallowed. On the play, Quick had lost his catching glove and asked the referee if he might have been interfered with.

“He said because my glove was outside of the crease, even though my feet were inside of the crease, the goal probably would have stood,’’ Quick said. “We caught a break there. They’re offsides by you know, a couple inches.’’

Quick, who appeared to stick his bare hand out as the shot from Alex Nylander came toward the goal, said he didn’t realize how unwise it was to do that at the time.

“Not really thinking about that in the moment,’’ he said with a smile. “Immediately after, you’re like, ‘What the hell?’ You question your decision there. But no, it worked out.’’

Trocheck hosts feast

Center Vincent Trocheck, a Pittsburgh native, hosted his teammates for a home-cooked Italian dinner at his house Tuesday. It was the second year in a row that Trocheck has had the team over to his house on a trip to Pittsburgh.

“It says a lot about him as a person and a teammate,’’ Rangers coach Laviolette said of Trocheck. “Just a quality person, looking out for his team, his teammates.’’

Trocheck said there weren’t many leftovers after dinner.

“I was gonna try to bring some for the staff, but there wasn't a whole lot,’’ he said.

Blue notes

D Adam Fox took part in the morning skate again, as he did Monday in Dallas, and he seemed to do a little bit more Wednesday. He took shifts with call-up seventh D Connor Mackey in drills and half-speed scrimmages. Fox remains on long-term injured reserve with a lower-body injury. He missed his seventh game since he left the Nov. 2 win over Carolina and must miss three more before he is eligible to return. The first game he could be back for would be Nov. 29 against Detroit at MSG … Mackey was the lone scratch.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

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.