It would have been difficult for the Penguins to not come out with a better effort Tuesday than they had in their last meeting with the Rangers.
It was just four days prior that the Penguins graced the Madison Square Garden crowd with arguably their worst performance of the season, a 5-1 loss.
With the Rangers making the trip to PPG Paints Arena on Tuesday, it offered the Penguins the chance at redemption. And when the 4:16 mark of the first period passed and the Penguins weren't already in a three-goal hole, it was already a significant improvement over the previous meeting.
The Penguins put forth a much better effort in Tuesday's game, but it still wasn't enough. After falling to the Rangers, 3-2, the Penguins are well aware that they still have some work to do if they are going to face the Rangers in the postseason.
The Penguins were held to just five shots on goal and allowed nine in the first period, but managed to escape the first 20 minutes unscathed, holding onto a 1-0 lead after Brian Boyle's deflection of a Brian Dumoulin shot redirected through the legs of Igor Shesterkin and opened the scoring:
The Penguins limited the Rangers to three goals over the next 40 minutes, but the Rangers would continue to stifle the Penguins' offense. The Rangers made it difficult for the Penguins to cleanly get out of their own end and get anything out of the transition game. The Rangers created a number of odd-man rushes that produced scoring chances.
The Penguins put forth an impressive effort with the extra attacker in the last two and a half minutes, with Rickard Rakell making the save of the game in front of the empty cage:
... and Shesterkin twice robbing Jake Guentzel of chances of his own:
... but the Penguins were unable to get a late tying goal to force overtime.
"I gotta get that one up at the end of the game," Guentzel said of his late opportunity. "It's still disappointing from my end there."
Mike Sullivan called it a "low-event game," and didn't think that there were "significant scoring chances on either side." It was a much different game than Friday's game in New York, and there were positives to be found.
"We come up one short, but I thought our push in the third period was really good," Sullivan said. "That's encouraging."
Mike Matheson said that it felt like the Penguins were "a lot more locked in tonight."
"The previous game, that was an embarrassment," Matheson added. "I mean, there's no other way to put it. I think details-wise, we still kind of got under siege tonight."
Boyle said the Penguins' effort in this one was "way better."
The Rangers leapfrogged the Penguins in the standings with the win, moving into second place in the Metropolitan Division with the Penguins falling to third. With the Hurricanes still having a five-point lead for the No. 1 spot, and the Capitals occupying in a wild card and six points out of third, it still seems likely that the Penguins and Rangers could be a first-round matchup in the postseason.
It's something the Penguins are well aware of at this point in the season.
"If you look at the standings, it's right there right now," Matheson said. "There's 14 games left, so a lot can happen in that period of time to rearrange things. ... These games will be really important if in fact we do end up playing them in the first round."
This game, rather than Friday's blowout, is more along the lines of the type of game that can be expected in a playoff meeting between the two teams.
"This is the type of hockey that I think we've got to grow accustomed to playing here down the stretch," Sullivan said. "It has a playoff feel to it. There's just not a lot of ice. We're going to have to be willing to take what the game gives us. We're going to have to be willing to get our noses over pucks, play a grind game and hang onto pucks. And we've got to be willing to go to the net."
The Penguins know that they can -- and must -- do better. They'll have one more shot to face the Rangers in the regular season on April 7 in New York, a game that could end up being one final preview of a playoff matchup between these two teams.
"We've got another level to get to," Boyle said. "We've got to continue to work to do that."
Guentzel shared the same sentiment.
"There's still another level for us to get to," Guentzel said. "We've just got to make sure that we keep going here and try to get the next one."
They'll look to take these lessons on the road, with a two-game trip up next on the slate against two of the Western Conference's top teams: A game against the Central Division's second-place Wild on Thursday, followed by a game Saturday against the first-place Avalanche, the first team in the league to reach 100 points this season.
"We've got a tough two-gamer here, and we should be excited about it," Boyle said. "This is a great challenge against two great teams, especially on the road."
"We know we're going to get some tough opponents here coming up," Guentzel said. "It's just the best time to play hockey, so it's going to be fun to go on the road and see what we're made of."
MORE FROM THE GAME
• Forward Frank Vatrano tied the game for New York in the second period. Dumoulin was attempting to clear the puck from the Penguins' end and turned it over to Mika Zibanejad, who then immediately set up Vatrano for the goal.
• Defenseman Braden Schneider gave the Rangers the lead less than four minutes later, taking a shot from the slot after a feed from Artemi Panarin.
• There was an altercation by the Penguins' bench at the end of the second period. Guentzel and Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren exchanged shoves and words with each other, then Matheson stepped in and grabbed Lindgren around the neck to hold him back from Guentzel. All three players got called for roughing, putting the Penguins on the penalty kill to open the third period. The calls proved costly, with Kreider scoring a power play goal for New York that would stand as the game-winner.
Asked if he was surprised about the way the altercation was called with Matheson receiving the roughing call too, Sullivan was succinct in his response: "Yes."
Matheson still wasn't totally sure why he was in the box when he spoke after the game ended.
"I don't really know what I actually got called for," he said. "I'd say I respectfully disagree with the call. I see their guy going at one of our best players. I just tried to get him away from him. Obviously it was seen different, and ended up being the game-winning goal. Frustrating, but that's all part of the game, I guess. That's all I have to say about it."
• Sidney Crosby scored a power play goal midway through the third period to bring the Penguins back within one goal. It was the Penguins' fifth game in a row with a power play goal:
• The goal was Crosby's 70th point of the season. Crosby can only play in a maximum of 70 games this year with the games he's already missed, so he secured a point-per-game season. It was his 17th consecutive point-per-game seasons. The only player with more point-per-game seasons in league history is Wayne Gretzky, who had 19.
• This is the 12th time Crosby has hit the 70-point mark, tying Alex Ovechkin and Joe Thornton for the most 70-point seasons among active players.
• The goal also extended Crosby's home point streak to 13 games, the longest active home point streak for any player in the league. The streak, which dates back to Jan. 28, has seen Crosby score seven goals and 15 assists.
• Evgeni Malkin's assist on Crosby's goal was the 697th of his career, moving him past Sergei Fedorov for sole possession of first place in assists by a Russian-born player in NHL history.
• The Rangers outhit the Penguins, 38-32. Every Penguins skater recorded at least one hit other than Crosby, Matheson and Danton Heinen. Evan Rodrigues led with five.
• Tristan Jarry made 23 saves on 26 shots.
• Boyle spoke very highly of what Teddy Blueger contributes to their line:
"He's so easy to play with because he's in the right spot," Boyle said. "He does everything right. He talks to me, which I need. Playing on the wing, I'm comfortable with it, but I'm a lot more comfortable when he's telling me what to do. He's a committed player on both sides. He wants to contribute more offensively like I do. But he knows his bread and butter and his role in the team. But when he has a chance, his goal last game was a perfect shot. He's creating a lot with hard work, but he's added a lot of skill to his game as well. It's awesome playing with him, it really is."
• The loss ended a four-game home win streak.
• The Penguins held a moment of silence prior to the anthem for Senators owner Eugene Melnyk, who passed away at age 62 on Monday due to an undisclosed illness.
• Tie Domi and Paul Coffey were both at the game in Mario Lemieux's suite, in town for Lemieux's Fantasy Hockey Camp.
• Anthony Angello was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton earlier in the day. He was in Pittsburgh in time for the game and sat in the press box as a healthy scratch. With the Penguins departing for a road trip on Wednesday and otherwise having zero extra healthy forwards on the roster, it made sense to recall Angello as an insurance option. You don't want to be all the way out in Colorado, have someone get sick or injured, and have all of your backup options on the other side of the country.
• Speaking of Colorado, Nathan MacKinnon might not be available for the Avalanche in that game on Saturday. He missed Colorado's game on Tuesday, dealing with a hand injury that Colorado coach Jared Bednar said "possibly could be stemming from the fight" MacKinnon got into on Sunday. He said that the team has a "high" level of concern regarding the injury.
• There are a couple of impending milestones to keep an eye out for on that trip. Jeff Carter's next point will be the 800th of his career. Guentzel's next goal will tie him with Joe Mullen (153) for the second-most goals by an American player in Penguins history, trailing Kevin Stevens' 260 goals for the top spot. Malkin's next game-winning goal will tie him with Jaromir Jagr (78) for the most in franchise history.
• Before the game the Penguins signed their fifth undrafted free agent prospect within the last month in forward Ty Glover. Big kid out of Western Michigan who has a strong net-front presence. More on him here.
• If you're looking for a feel-good story: The Flyers were officially eliminated from playoff contention on Tuesday at the hands of Marc-Andre Fleury, who made 32 saves in Minnesota's 4-1 win over the Flyers.
THE ESSENTIALS
• Boxscore
• Live file
• Scoreboard
• Standings
• Statistics
• Schedule
THE THREE STARS
As selected at PPG Paints Arena:
1. Chris Kreider, Rangers LW
2. Braden Schneider, Rangers D
3. Sidney Crosby, Penguins C
THE HIGHLIGHTS
THE INJURIES
• Brock McGinn, left winger, in considered week-to-week with an injured right wrist. He's resumed skating his own and started stickhandling with both hands on the stick on Tuesday. He is not on injured reserve
• Jason Zucker, left winger, has been on LTIR since undergoing core muscle surgery Jan. 25. He's was back to practicing with full contact on Tuesday.
• Nathan Beaulieu, defenseman, was injured before he was acquired from the Jets at the trade deadline and is expected to remain sidelined for at least the remainder of the regular season. He isn't physically in Pittsburgh yet.
THE LINEUPS
Sullivan’s lines and pairings:
Jake Guentzel - Sidney Crosby - Evan Rodrigues
Rickard Rakell - Evgeni Malkin - Bryan Rust
Danton Heinen - Jeff Carter - Kasperi Kapanen
Brian Boyle - Teddy Blueger - Radim Zohorna
Brian Dumoulin - Kris Letang
Mike Matheson - John Marino
Marcus Pettersson - Chad Ruhwedel
And for Gerard Gallant's Rangers:
Chris Kreider - Mika Zibanejad - Frank Vatrano
Artemi Panarin - Andrew Copp - Dryden Hunt
Alexis Lafreniere - Filip Chytil - Barclay Goodrow
Tyler Motte - Jonny Brodzinski - Ryan Reaves
Ryan Lindgren - Adam Fox
K'Andre Miller - Jacob Trouba
Patrik Nemeth - Braden Schneider
THE SCHEDULE
The Penguins will practice in Cranberry at noon on Wedneday before departing for their road trip. They'll play the Wild on Thursday, practice in Colorado on Friday, then play the Avalanche on Saturday.
THE CONTENT
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