Penguins fend off late attack by Rangers for 3rd consecutive win

Defending a lead has been a struggle for the Pittsburgh Penguins throughout the 2020-21 season.

Granted, much of that futility can be tied to the fact they’ve trailed so often in games, they’ve been the ones trying to stage a comeback victory.

On Tuesday, they successfully defended a late lead.

But goodness, was it a struggle.

Despite allowing the New York Rangers to outshoot them 15-1 in the final period, the Penguins were able to claim their third consecutive triumph, a 4-2 win at PPG Paints Arena.

“When we have a lead, we kind of tend to back off a little bit, especially late, and invite the pressure,” forward Teddy Blueger said via video conference. “When the other team is coming hard like that, it’s tough to deal with wave after wave after wave. We’ve to get better with just sticking with our game plan.”

Of course, you can stray from any schematic when your goaltender simply steals goals as if he were Hans Gruber.

Tristan Jarry made 33 saves on 35 shots, but his two most spectacular stops came within the final three minutes of regulation when he denied Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich on a pair of goalmouth sequences at the 17 minute, 29 seconds and 17:47 marks of the third period.

“Game-saving saves,” Blueger said. “Won the game for us. Those were huge. There’s no other way to put it.”

The Rangers took the game’s first lead when ex-Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson, who had the final three years of his contract bought out by the Penguins in October, scored his first goal of the season at 9:16 of the first period. From left point, Johnson stroked a one-timer that glanced off the left leg of Penguins defenseman John Marino, positioned above the crease, and deflected past Jarry’s blocker on the near side.

The score was tied at 18:54 of the first. Penguins forward Jake Guentzel, from just beyond the left circle used Johnson as a screen and lifted a knuckler past goaltender Keith Kinkaid’s glove on the far side for his eighth goal.

The Penguins took their first lead 2:40 into the second period with a short-handed goal. Taking a pass in the Rangers’ slot, Blueger criss-crossed with linemate Brandon Tanev, veered to the left circle then scooted around Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller before attacking the crease, jamming in a backhander that trickled under Kinkaid for his fourth goal of the season.

A dominant shift in the offensive zone by the Penguins’ second line led to their third goal late in the second at the 19:40 mark. Corralling a puck on the Rangers end boards, forward Evan Rodrigues fed a little pass behind the cage for linemate Evgeni Malkin who then slipped a pass to forward Kasperi Kapanen in the slot. Dragging the puck past a stick check from Rangers defenseman Adam Fox, Kapanen roofed a wrister over Kinkaid’s glove for his seventh goal.

It became a one-goal game again thanks to a power-play goal 3:18 into the third period. Another deflection off of Marino, this time from his left skate, on a pass attempt by Rangers forward Ryan Strome from the left circle, caromed under Jarry’s right leg for Strome’s ninth goal.

After that, the Rangers just dominated puck possession but were unable to put a conventional shot behind Jarry.

“We’ve just got to be a little bit better with the lead,” Guentzel said. “Not be so much on our heels. Just unbelievable saves there by Tristan to keep that one-goal lead. A lot of credit goes to him for this win.”

The Penguins’ lone shot in the third period was a wrister Crosby air-mailed from the neutral zone into an empty cage for his ninth goal.

“We’ve got to do a better job,” coach Mike Sullivan said of his team’s play in the third period. “We’ve just got to execute. We’ve got to defend better. … Tonight, we just got on our heels a little bit.”