Rangers lost one of their best players at the end of Saturday night’s first period.
Colin Blackwell, who had entered the day with a point in three consecutive games since he was called from the taxi team earlier in the week, suffered an upper body injury in the middle of the first period and did not return for the rest of the five. Rangers -4 defeat in overtime for the Penguins.
“I didn’t see that,” said coach David Quinn after the game. “Still evaluating, we are not sure what his status is.”
Blackwell, who had another goal denied a good chance at the start of the first period, did not play the final 9:13 of the period after going into fourth.
Kaapo Kakko was scheduled to make changes to the second row in place of Blackwell on the right wing, alongside Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome, before the lines were later shuffled.
The Rangers launched their new power-play units for the second game in a row and after generating a lot of chances in the first three opportunities on Saturday, they finally converted into the man’s advantage to break a 0 to 8 drought in the last three games.
The new first unit, with defenders Adam Fox and Tony DeAngelo joining Panarin, Mika Zibanejad and Pavel Buchnevich, was on the ice for Panarin’s green ball goal at the end of the second period.
The second unit formed by Jacob Trouba, Chris Kreider, Alexis Lafreniere, Strome and Kakko also had more work than in their first game together on Thursday, with Rangers finishing Saturday 1 to 5 in power play.
“I think the two units give you a slightly different look,” said Quinn. “It’s a small sample size, but we just thought about the two units, we kind of needed to shake things up.”
Defender Jack Johnson lost his second straight game with a groin injury, with Brendan Smith continuing to take his place alongside DeAngelo. Smith stayed on the bench for the entire third period, after being on the ice for each of the Penguins’ first three goals. “Just a decision we made with Smitty,” said Quinn.
Kevin Rooney scored his first goal as Ranger in a shorthanded attack to tie the game in two in the second period. Rooney and K’Andre Miller broke free for a 2-to-0, with Miller delivering a perfect pass for Rooney to submit.
Rooney now has 11 career goals, four of them with few players.