Goodbye 3rd Place; Rangers Smoke Penguins at MSG 4-2

NEW YORK — The Pittsburgh Penguins needed to win in regulation to have a realistic chance to catch the New York Rangers for third place in the Metro Division. New York generally had the better offensive chances though the Penguins were opportunistic.

Despite New York’s advantages, they couldn’t shake the Penguins. New York twice had one-goal leads for long periods of time but never gathered a two-goal lead until Chris Kreider (27) cleaned a rebound in front of the net midway through the third period for the game-winner, then added an empty netter in the final minute for a 4-2 Rangers win at Madison Square Garden.

New York is now a nearly insurmountable 10 points ahead of the Penguins for third place, with only 14 games remaining in the regular season.

The Penguins were perilously close to being skated out of MSG early in the first period. Defenseman Brian Dumoulin’s between-the-legs pass was errant, and Artemi Panarin sprang Mika Zbinejad on a two-zone breakaway.

Zbanejad (35) beat Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry in the glove side.

Penguins coach Mike Sullivan shuffled his lines midway through the second period and found success, at least momentarily. Sullivan moved Alex Nylander to his third line with center Mikael Granlund and Drew O’Connor while returning Rickard Rakell first to Evgeni Malkin’s right wing, then to Sidney Crosby’s wing.

Rakell scored a few minutes later.

Pittsburgh Penguins captain Sidney Crosby intercepted Rangers defenseman Andre Miller’s pass behind the Rangers’ net and quickly centered it for Rakell (24), who snapped it past Igor Shesterkin.

However, the tie game lasted slightly more than two minutes. A miscue between Penguins forward Jeff Carter and defenseman P.O Joseph served a golden chance to Motte in front of the Penguins’ net. Motte (4) quickly wristed the gift past Jarry for another Rangers lead.

Kris Letang was visibly furious. First, he fished the puck out of the net and whipped it off the boards. He retrieved the puck and slammed it the length of the ice as the Rangers celebrated.

Crosby was also dominant on the Penguins’ second goal, stealing the puck several times and controlling it in the offensive zone before setting up Jake Guentzel (30) in the slot.

In a bout of not-so-coincidental physicality, a pair of players were slow to get up in the first period. Early in the first period, Tyler Motte elbowed Penguins defenseman Jeff Petry, who needed to be helped off the ice. A few minutes later, Penguins’ defenseman P.O Joseph injured Motte with a high check.

Petry left the game. Motte was felled but didn’t miss a shift.

Coach Mike Sullivan said Petry was being evaluated for an upper-body injury.

New York dominated the Penguins in the opening 20 with a 6-1 high-danger chance advantage and had 70% of the shot attempts (25-11). Stats courtesy of NaturalStatTrick.com

The Penguins flipped the advantage, albeit slightly, in the second with an 11-6 scoring chance advantage.

With only five defensemen, Letang played a game-high 28:55  and 30 shifts.

The Penguins’ Tristan Jarry stopped 31 of 34 shots. After being pulled three times in his last eight starts, Jarry played one of his better games. He made several difficult saves to keep the Penguins close in the first period. The Rangers’ Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves on 28 shots. The Penguins have lost two in a row and will face the Rangers again Saturday at Madison Square Garden.