Penguins again fail to sustain momentum after scoring and fall to Rangers

Jason Mackey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Dec 6, 2024

Published in Hockey

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NEW YORK — In their last game, the Penguins blew a three-goal lead to the Florida Panthers before rallying in overtime. There was no massive outburst Friday against the Rangers. The damage was much more subtle.

There was also no comeback, the result of the Penguins’ inability to sustain momentum.

New York scored goals 1:09 and 1:23 after Penguins tallies, short-circuiting anything Pittsburgh had going en route to a 4-2 loss for the visitors on Friday at Madison Square Garden.

The loss snaps the Penguins’ four-game winning streak, and it denied them a chance to move into a playoff spot by beating the reeling Rangers, who had lost six of their previous seven while allowing 29 goals during that time.

Not to mention trading their now former captain, Jacob Trouba, hours before puck drop.

But after Philip Tomasino gave the Penguins a jolt with his goal at 8:28 of the third period, their inability to hold that lead once again wilted. This time, like so many, it came as the result of poor defensive-zone coverage.

Matt Grzelcyk got caught in between. Left wing Chris Kreider and right wing Reilly Smith came in on a two-on-one, Smith curled and dragged around Kris Letang and finally scored on the third shot of the sequence to push the Rangers in front, 3-2.

It’s a shame, too, because it really looked like Tomasino’s goal a little earlier might’ve given the Penguins some hope that they could come from behind at MSG, a place where they were trying to win two in a row for the first time since 2019.

Michael Bunting carried the puck down the left wall and delivered a hard pass to Tomasino, who ripped a shot over Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin from the high slot for his third in five games since joining the Penguins.

Just when it looked like the Penguins might escape the second period with the score tied at 1, left wing Artemi Panarin ruined those plans. Panarin entered the Penguins zone, deked around Marcus Pettersson and beat Alex Nedeljkovic with a shot from the top of the right circle that beat the Pittsburgh goaltender short side.

The goal gave the Rangers a 2-1 lead with just 1.5 seconds to go before intermission, and it was similar to the goal Panarin scored at 7:28 of the second period, when he cranked a slapper from a similar spot.

On that goal, the Rangers used their speed and puck movement to cause issues for the Penguins. It also didn’t help that Owen Pickering collapsed down in the zone, allowing Panarin too much space.

Panarin’s first goal erased an impressive tally from Blake Lizotte, who gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 6:19 of the second. The Penguins third-line center curled into the slot and whipped a shot past Shesterkin that went bar down.

It continued an impressive stretch for Lizotte, who has three goals and six points over his past five games. Lizotte also has points in three straight, matching his career high.

A recurring issue for the Penguins arrived after Lizotte’s goal, when they immediately ceded an odd-man rush. Nedeljkovic bailed them out with a clutch stop on Kreider before Panarin broke through.

This was a forgettable gamer for Grzelcyk, whose ugly giveaway in the first period led to a breakaway for Smith. That was one of a couple scoring chances in the game for the former Penguin.

Ice chips

— Cody Glass returned from a 12-game absence (concussion) and centered the fourth line. His return bumped Matt Nieto from the lineup. Ryan Graves and Jesse Puljujarvi were also healthy scratches.

— Friday represented the 1,300 NHL game for Sidney Crosby, who entered this one with the fourth-most points through that many games in league history. Only Wayne Gretzky, Marcel Dionne and Jaromir Jagr had more.

— No active player has more points against the Rangers than Crosby, who was at 108 before Friday’s contest.

— Panarin’s second goal was preceded by a wild stretch. Rickard Rakell hit the post on a power play, a two-minute stretch where the Rangers had just as many chances while shorthanded. One was a two-on-one between Kreider and Mika Zibanejad, with Erik Karlsson back. Thankfully for the Penguins, the cross-slot pass never connected. Pickering then hit another post with his shot from 44 feet at 19:13 of the period.

— The Penguins suffered just their third regulation loss (12-3-2) in their past 17 games at Madison Square Garden when they score first.

— Tomasino has points in four of his five career games against the Rangers, including three goals.

Key stat

18: That's how many faceoffs the Penguins won among the 51 they took, a success rate of just 35.3% during an ugly night in the circle.

He said it

“All the players on the blue line, not unlike the rest of the group, have had moments of brilliance and played extremely well through stretches. But we’ve also had our struggles.” — Penguins coach Mike Sullivan

Up next

The Penguins return home to host the Maple Leafs on Saturday. Toronto has been red hot, winning seven of its previous eight games before Friday against Washington while outscoring those teams, 27-19.