Sloppy Penguins Give Away Too Many, Lose to Rangers

NEW YORK — The Pittsburgh Penguins (11-13-4) gave up a goal within 90 seconds of each of their two goals Friday, and their mistake-filled defensive game was fodder for the New York Rangers (14-10-1) transition game and an old teammate.

New York winger Reilly Smith led all players with six shots on goal and achingly missed a couple of glorious chances, including a first-period breakaway. However, the former Pittsburgh Penguins winger finished off his former team by burying a rebound attempt off a two-on-one midway through the third period at 9:53. It was the game winner as New York beat the Penguins 4-2 at Madison Square Garden Friday.

The loss snapped the Penguins four-game winning streak.

In fact, New York got three shots on the two-on-one, the first and third by Smith (4), whose goal buckled the Penguins. The two-on-one was just another of numerous odd-man rushes yielded by porous defensive plays. The goal was 1:24 after the Penguins’ second goal.

Newly acquired Philip Tomasino ripped a top-corner past New York goalie Igor Shesterkin at 8:29 of the third period. It was Tomasino’s third goal in five games with the Penguins and the first that wasn’t a game-winner. Instead, this brought his team back from the brink, but only momentarily,

It looked like New York would break the Penguin at the end of the second period.

Artemi Panarin scored a pair of goals, his second was the go-ahead goal with just over one second remaining in the second. The score capped a wild sequence in which Penguins center Blake Lizotte had a great scoring chance, and Penguins rookie defenseman Owen Pickering hit the post before New York’s final rush.

Panarin (15) unleashed a screaming wrist shot without much time and space at 19:58 of the second.

The Penguins’ first period was a microcosm of the season. Some brutal mistakes by defensemen yielded three breakaway chances. Matt Grzelcyk’s too-cute between-the-legs pass sprung former Penguins winger Reilly Smith early in the first period. Adam Edstrom zipped past everyone for another breakaway midway through the first, and Filip Chytil carved up Erik Karlsson and Evgeni Malkin a couple of minutes later.

Alex Nedeljkovic held his ground, including a strong poke check on Chytil to prevent an easy goal.

Conversely, the Penguins exhibited good zone entries, got the puck low, and worked the New York defense for puck possession. New York led on the shots clock 10-6 in the otherwise low event period.

Shesterkin signed an eight-year, $92 million contract before the game, but the Penguins failed to push him, getting just 15 shots through 40 minutes, including five in the last couple of minutes in the second period.

The Penguins’ offense was again generated by their third line, centered by Blake Lizotte. Early in the second period, Lizotte (5) wheeled up around the zone, up the right wing toward the blue line, around the defense into the slot, and whistled a high wrister past Shesterkin at 6:19.

As they’ve done so often, the Penguins’ mistakes gifted New York a momentum-killing goal. Nedeljkovic made a brilliant diving save on Chris Kreider’s left circle shot, but on the subsequent rush, the Penguins blew their zone coverage when Evgeni Malkin followed the center drive instead of taking Artemi Panarin, who was trailing the lead two rushers.

Panarin (14) was wide open and snapped the shot past Nedeljokovic at 7:28, just 1:09 after the Penguins goal.

New York generally dominated the second period, significantly outshooting the Penguins 14-9. The Penguins got four shots on a late-period power play, and Rickard Rakell hit the post.

Nedeljkovic stopped 28 of 31 shots. The Penguins fired only 19 at Shesterkin.

Vincent Trocheck (7) capped the scoring by finishing another odd-man rush at 18:22.

Penguins Notes

Cody Glass played in his first game since Nov. 7. He centered the fourth line with Kevin Hayes on the left and Noel Acciari on the right.

Matt Nieto, Jesse Puljujarvi, and Ryan Graves were the Penguins healthy scratches. Without Nieto in the lineup, Bryan Rust assumed some penalty-killing duties.

The Penguins were 0-for-4 on the power play with eight shots, four of which came on the third attempt late in the second period.