Penguins beat Rangers in OT, but lose Kris Letang

The Pittsburgh Penguins entered Saturday’s road game against the New York Rangers knowing they had to do something different to combat what plagued them during the early stages of their ongoing road trip.

“We’ve just got to play a better team game,” forward Bryan Rust said. “We’ve got to focus on the details a little bit more, play more as a unit, support each other in all areas of the ice. That’s just going to give ourselves more chances to play more with the puck and win more games.”

Sure enough, they did some of those things and snapped their two-game losing streak with a 5-4 overtime victory at Madison Square Garden.

A goal by forward Sidney Crosby at 2 minutes, 27 seconds of the extra frame secured the win. It was his fourth goal of the season.

But one trend that continued, much to their dismay, was the loss of yet another defenseman. Franchise blue-liner Kris Letang left the game 10:15 into regulation due to an undisclosed injury.

The Penguins entered the game with five defensemen — Brian Dumoulin, Mike Matheson, Marcus Pettersson, Juuso Riikola and Zach Trotman — already sidelined because of various maladies.

In Letang’s absence, the Penguins got a resolute effort from their five remaining defenseman, particularly rookie P.O Joseph, who in his fifth career game, logged 25:58 of ice time on 33 shifts and recorded three assists, including on Crosby’s goal.

“P.O had a great game,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “He was competing defensively. He has great offensive instincts. You can see … some of the plays that he makes.

“We believe this kid is going to bet better and better.”

The Penguins had a better start to this contest than most of their games this season as they took a lead fairly early, only 7:39 into regulation. Joseph’s shot from the left circle was redirected by forward Jason Zucker for his second goal.

A crease-crashing rebound goal by Rangers forward Brendan Lemieux, his first, at 13:52 of the first tied the game.

The Penguins reclaimed a lead, 2-1, at 19:20 of the first thanks, in part, to Joseph. Controlling a puck at the left point, Joseph faked a shot that jammed up Di Giuseppe and moved him out of position. With a new shooting lane formed, Joseph pumped a wrister at the cage.

Penguins forward Brandon Tanev darted through the left circle and deflected the puck through Georgiev’s legs for his third goal.

A short-handed goal off a two-on-none rush by Rangers forward Kevin Rooney, his first, tied the score again, 2-2, at 7:20 of the second period.

Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen took back the lead, 3-2, at 9:20 of the second. It was Kapanen’s second goal of the season.

Kapanen had a goal and an assist in the contest. In six games this season, he has five points (two goals, three assists).

“I’m getting a bigger role here and getting more responsibility in the offensive zone,” Kapanen said via video chat. “That’s something I feel like every player enjoys. So far, I think I’ve played well and my linemates have been helping me out.”

The Rangers persisted, tying the score 3-3 at 10:25 of the second when forward Chris Kreider chopped in a rebound for his third goal. Then at 16:01 of the second, they took their first lead with a power-play score off a one-timer by forward Artemi Panarin, his fourth score.

The Penguins largely dominated the third period, controlling shots, 16-7. That puck possession led to a game-tying goal at the 9:18 mark when forward Jake Guentzel cleaned up a rebound for his third score.

In overtime, Joseph fed a simple pass from above the Rangers’ right circle to the slot where Crosby snapped a pedestrian wrister through Georgiev’s five hole.

DeSmith finished with 30 saves in a difficult triumph.

“We did a pretty good job out there,” Joseph said. “Whoever was on the ice out there, we battled it out. We just tried to keep it simple and good things happened.”