Short-handed Penguins shut out by Rangers

The Penguins were under no misconceptions as to the gravity that their road contest against the New York Rangers on Thursday commanded.

“Huge game,” forward Bryan Rust said on Tuesday. “This is a team that we’re possibly … (going to) see a lot of them in the (postseason).”

The dimensions the game possessed did not include the services of the Penguins’ biggest star (captain Sidney Crosby), their biggest penalty killer (defenseman John Marino leads the team in short-handed ice time) nor one of their biggest players (6-foot-6, 220-pound rookie forward Radim Zohorna).

All three players were sidelined for the contest due to undisclosed illnesses. Other than noting they were not dealing with covid-19, the Penguins did not specify the nature of their ailments.

Those absences proved to be too ample for the Penguins to overcome as they were shut out by the Rangers and goaltender Igor Shesterkin, 3-0, at Madison Square Garden.

“Obviously, those are pretty impactful players,” Sullivan said to media in New York. “But I think we’ve got enough in our lineup to win games. That’s the mindset that we need to have. We pushed hard tonight. It’s just been a struggle to score.”

That was apparent not only through the score but also the shot totals of the Penguins’ jerry-rigged first line.

With Crosby sidelined, Evgeni Malkin stepped in between wingers Jake Guentzel and Rust. That trio could only generate two shots, each by Guentzel.

For the Rangers (45-20-6, 98 points), Thursday’s result was their third consecutive victory against the Penguins and buttressed their lead over the Penguins (41-21-10, 92 points) for second place in the Metropolitan Division.

Beyond the realm of divisional play, the Penguins have been scuttling as of late, going 2-5-1 in their past eight games.

They profess to be satisfied with how they are playing but acknowledge some refinement is in order.

“We’ve played a lot of good teams, bigger teams, more physical teams, and I thought we played well in all of those games,” Penguins defenseman Kris Letang said. “Every one of those games could have gone either way. (Thursday’s game) was tight. We could have come back with the chances. Guys are fighting. They’re working hard. A lot of character. They went to work tonight to try to get those points. There’s little things that we have to improve, learn. I think they’re all correctable.”

Following a scoreless first period, the Rangers got on the scoreboard a mere 24 seconds into the second period.

Gaining the offensive zone on the left wing, Rangers forward Chris Kreider tried to curl and drag the puck around Letang in the left circle but lost the puck. Kreider’s linemate, Mika Zibenajad, followed up on the sequence and snapped a pass attempt from the left of the cage.

With Kreider haven fallen to the ice, the puck bounced off his left elbow and deflected to the right of the net. Rangers forward Frank Vatrano settled the puck then shuffled in a backhander past goaltender Tristan Jarry’s right leg for his 16th goal of the 2021-22 campaign and his fourth in six games against the Penguins this season. Kreider and Zibanejad had assists.

Rangers forward Artemi Panarin, another long-time nemesis of the Penguins, made it a 2-0 game at 9:47 of the second period.

Lugging a puck up from his own left corner, Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba zipped a cross-ice stretch pass to forward Andrew Copp, allowing him to gain the offensive blue line. From the left circle, Copp slipped a clever backhand pass past Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson to the opposite circle. Accepting the puck on his forehand, Panarin deked to his backhand and lifted a shot from the slot past Jarry’s blocker for his 20th goal. Rangers forward Ryan Strome provided an effective screen on the sequence. While Copp and Trouba tallied assists.

“I thought I had a good angle on him cutting across then he just changes the angle quick and he’s able to get a hell of a backhand off,” Jarry said of Panarin. “It goes in a good spot and I wasn’t able to get it.”

The game was mostly inert in terms of confrontational play until 12:37 of the third period when Penguins forward Anthony Angello (6-foot-5, 210 pounds) injured Rangers forward Tyler Motte (5-foot-10, 192 pounds) with a hip check to Motte’s left shoulder.

A handful of Rangers went after Angello, who received an interference minor. Motte left the game with his left arm hanging in apparent discomfort. No update on Motte’s status was provided after the game.

Afterward, a handful of scrums broke out, including one at the 16:33 mark that involved Malkin and Rangers forward/antagonist Barclay Goodrow each receiving roughing minors. Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson got involved in the tussle but escaped punishment despite delivering an inadvertent facewash to linesman Kiel Murchison.

An empty-net goal by Rangers forward Dryden Hunt, his fifth, capped the scoring at 19:22 of the third period. Zibenajad logged the lone assist.

Following the final whistle, a five-man scrum broke out. After officials broke up that engagement, they had to step in again at center ice to keep each lineup from one another after the teams left the benches.

“That’s what’s going to happen when stuff like that happens,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “There was nothing before that hit and then obviously (Rangers players) aren’t happy with a hit like (Angello’s). I didn’t think (the officials) took care of it with the right call.”

Jarry’s record fell to 33-17-6 after making 21 saves on 23 shots.

Thursday’s result left the Penguins with a 1-3 record against the Rangers this season. Sullivan suggested his squad’s confidence hasn’t been impacted by that mark or their recent struggles.

“No, I don’t think so,” Sullivan said. “We’re competing hard. We’re in every game. When you look at the last handful of games, I feel like the team has played pretty hard. We haven’t gotten the result. But we’ve just got to continue to stay with it. That’s the message that we gave the guys after the game.”

Notes:

• In addition to Crosby, Zohorna and Marino, Penguins forward Jason Zucker was scratched for the third consecutive game due to a presumed core muscle injury.

• Penguins rookie forward Filip Hallander made his NHL debut. The team recalled him under emergency conditions Thursday afternoon. He logged 5:52 of ice time on 12 shifts.

• Hallander became the 15th player to wear No. 36 for the Penguins. His predecessors were:

Jock Callander, Pat Neaton, Greg Andrusak, Corey Foster, Brad Lauer, J.J. Daigneault, Matthew Barnaby, Tom Kostopoulos, Andre Roy, Connor James, John Curry, Jussi Jokinen, Bryan Rust, Joseph Blandisi

• Hallander (June 29, 2000) became the first person born in the 21st century to appear in a game for the Penguins.

• With Marino sidelined, forward Evan Rodrigues is the only remaining player on the Penguins roster who has played in all 72 of the team’s games this season.

• Marino entered the game as the Penguins’ “ironman” having played in 98 consecutive regular season games, dating back to last season. That title is now inherited by Rodrigues and the 72 games he has played this season.

• The Penguins were shut out for only the second time this season. They were previous blanked during a 4-0 home loss to the Calgary Flames on Oct. 28. Goaltender Jacob Markstrom made 45 saves in that victory.

• The Rangers’ last shutout of the Penguins happened just over six years ago. In a 3-0 road win at what was then called Consol Energy Center, goaltender Henrik Lundqvist made 34 saves for the Rangers. As it turned out, that was the final regular season win of his career against the Penguins. After that, he went 0-4-3 against the Penguins before retiring in 2021.

• Panarin now has 30 points (13 goals, 17 assists) in 23 career games against the Penguins.

• Panarin appeared in his 500th career game.

• Goodrow appeared in his 400th career game.

Follow the Penguins all season long.