How Low Can They Go? Penguins Crushed, 6-0

When the Pittsburgh Penguins traveled to New York a few days ago for a pair of games against the Rangers, they had to realize that they had no real hope of overtaking the Rangers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

What they probably didn’t realize was that when they returned home early Sunday morning, they’d be a whole lot closer to sitting out the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 17 years than they are to any of the teams above them in the Metro.

They departed Manhattan with no points — but surely a megadose of humility — to show for their visit after being embarrassed by New York, 6-0, at Madison Square Garden.

Forty-eight hours earlier, New York had defeated them, 4-2, in the opener of the two-game series. The Penguins likely didn’t realize at the time that that defeat would seem like the good old days for them a couple of days later.

Per stats man extraordinaire Bob Grove, this is the first time the Penguins have lost three consecutive games in regulation during the month of March in Mike Sullivan’s tenure as coach.

The loss Saturday, coupled with Florida’s 4-2 come-from-behind victory against New Jersey, allowed the Panthers to climb within one point of the Penguins and New York Islanders, who were tied for the first wild-card in the Eastern Conference playoff field, pending the outcome of New York’s game in San Jose.

The Penguins played without their Nos. 2 and 3 right-side defensemen, Jeff Petry and Jan Rutta.

Petry was injured Thursday, when Rangers winger Tyler Motte elbowed him in the face. The nature of Rutta’s injury or illness is not known.

The Pittsburgh Penguins actually had a fairly solid first period, as evidenced by their 15-12 advantage in shots, but still faced a 2-0 deficit when it was over.

Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin made a good save on Josh Archibald, who was set up in the slot by Jeff Carter about three minutes into the game, and Mika Zibanejad put New York in front, about two minutes later.

He threw a backhander between Tristan Jarry’s legs from the inner edge of the right circle, the second game in a row in which he opened the scoring against the Penguins.

The Penguins subsequently killed off a minor for having too many men on the ice at 6:01, but weren’t so fortunate after Evgeni Malkin was sent off for boarding New York defenseman Braden Schneider at 18:56.

Artemi Panarin made it 2-0 with 10.3 seconds to go before the intermission, beating Jarry to cap a sequence that began with a failed clearing attempt by Brian Dumoulin.

That was New York’s first man-advantage goal in nine tries against the Penguins this season.

Panarin’s goal seemed to utterly deflate the Penguins, because when they returned from the locker room after the intermission, their generally solid play in the first 20 minutes did not come with them.

The Rangers took a chokehold on the game early in the second, when Vladimir Tarasenko lashed a slap shot past Jarry from inside the right circle at 3:54 to cap a 3-on-1 break.

The Penguins got their first opportunity with an extra man in four-plus periods against the Rangers when Vincent Trocheck was penalized for roughing Drew O’Connor at 4:35, but they failed to generate a shot, let alone any significant pressure.

Eight seconds after Trocheck left the box, Chris Kreider steered a Patrick Kane pass behind Jarry to put New York up, 4-0.

It was Kreider’s sixth goal in four games against the Penguins this season.

That prompted Sullivan to replace Jarry with Casey DeSmith, presumably in an effort to change the momentum of the game.

If so, it didn’t work.

Less than two minutes after entering the game, DeSmith became the latest Penguin to be victimized by a Jacob Trouba head shot, albeit not the kind with which he usually is associated.

Trouba threw the puck toward the net from low in the right circle, and watch as it caromed off the left side of DeSmith’s mask and dropped into the net.

Panarin was left alone at the left side of the crease at 16:38 and flipped in a shot to put New York up by a half-dozen.

It was the second time in three games that the Penguins gave up four goals in a period. Montreal did that during the first period of its 6-4 victory at PPG Paints Arena Tuesday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins will have a scheduled day off Sunday and will face Ottawa Monday at 7:08 p.m. at PPG Paints Arena before heading west for games against Colorado Wednesday and Dallas Thursday.