Penguins Bounce Back With 5-2 Victory Over Toronto

The Pittsburgh Penguins knew all too well what kind of opportunity they squandered Friday night in New York.

A victory over the New York Rangers would have lifted them into a wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference, stretched their winning streak to five games and gotten their record to .500.

Their lackluster 4-2 loss at Madison Square Garden rendered all of that moot.

A shot at a bit of redemption came along just 24 hours later, and this time, the Penguins made the most of it.

They defeated Toronto, 5-2, at PPG Paints Arena to claim a share of the second wild card in the East, alongside Philadelphia and Tampa Bay, although both have played fewer games than the Penguins.

The victory raised the Penguins’ record to 12-13-4.

Michael Bunting scored the game-winner during a power play at 5:34 of the third, beating Toronto goalie Joseph Woll from the inner edge of the right circle.

Blake Lizotte sealed the victory with an empty-net goal with 39.3 seconds left in regulation, extending his points streak to a career-high four games, and Kris Letang added another with 25.4 seconds to go.

Both of the final two goals were shorthanded, because the Penguins were killing a high-sticking minor to Bryan Rust.

The Penguins played without second-line right winger Philip Tomasino, who had scored three goals in the previous four games. Coach Mike Sullivan said Tomasino has an unspecified upper-body injury and offered no indication of how long he might be out.

Tomasino might have been injured when he absorbed a high hit from New York Rangers forward Sam Carrick after scoring Friday night. His spot on the No. 2 line with Evgeni Malkin and Drew O’Connor was taken by Cody Glass Saturday.

Rookie defenseman Owen Pickering was promoted to the No. 1 pairing, opposite Letang, and Matt Grzelcyk was dropped to the third pairing, on the right side with Ryan Graves, who rejoined the lineup after spending the previous five games as a healthy scratch.

Rickard Rakell gave the Penguins a short-lived 1-0 lead by deflecting a Grzelcyk shot past Woll during a power play at 4:39 of the opening period.

Kevin Hayes got the second assist on the goal, Rakell’s 11th of the season.

The lead held up for precisely 116 seconds, until Maple Leafs winger Mitch Marner swept a rebound past Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry at 6:35, while falling to the ice after being checked by Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson.

The Penguins went back in front at 14:15, as Rust collected the carom of a Sidney Crosby shot that had hit the boards behind the Toronto net and threw a shot by Woll from the top of the right circle. Rakell also assisted on the goal, Rust’s ninth.

Jarry preserved the Penguins’ advantage by denying Maple Leafs winger William Nylander on a breakaway with about 4 1/2 minutes to go before the intermission, but Nylander got a measure of revenge at 2:32 of the second, scoring from above the left circle while Letang was serving an interference minor.

Toronto winger Max Pacioretty was assessed a pair of roughing minors in a span of two minutes, 15 seconds early in the period, but the Penguins failed to capitalize on either. The second of those power plays was cut short after 63 seconds because Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson was called for tripping.

The Pittsburgh Penguins have a scheduled day off Sunday. They plan to practice Monday at 11 a.m. at UPMC Lemieux Sports Complex.