Having just completed a tough and fierce series of three games with Philadelphia Flyers, its longest-running rivals, on Saturday afternoon, the Pittsburgh Penguins had just over 24 hours to prepare for their next opponent, the New York Rangers, in Sunday night at PPG Paints Arena.
Getting ready to duel your enemy over and over? Of course, this is easy.
But how difficult is it to generate the same energy for a fairly common team like the Rangers?
Penguins coach Mike Sullivan says his team has a unique approach to all opponents, regardless of history.
“It is a circumstance very similar to a playoff environment when you are trying to learn from experience, so you have to be ready to leave that behind, whether you have been successful or not, whether positive or negative,” said Sullivan in a videoconference. “So, you just need to focus on the task at hand and what’s ahead of you. This is the approach we take. ”
The Penguins seemed to pay attention to this missive by defeating the Rangers 5-1.
It was the third win in the last four games, but it came at a price, as striker Jared McCann left the game on 14 minutes, 45 seconds into the second period with an apparent injury. There was no immediate word on his status after the game.
The Rangers had a 1-0 1:18 advantage in regulation.
Rangers striker Mika Zibanejad created a two-on-one race with Alexis Lafreniere against Penguins defender Cody Ceci. From the right circle, Zibanejad pretended to be a wrister, ran over goalkeeper Casey DeSmith’s mechanics and raised a forehand over DeSmith’s glove on the near side for his third goal of the season.
DeSmith made 23 saves in 24 shots to improve his record to 5-2-0.
A shot of three goals from the Penguins in 61 seconds put them in 3-1 to close the first period. First, defender João Marino drew at 16:13 of the first period.
Passing at the right point in the offensive zone, Marino slipped through the plates to the right circle. Using a canvas by Penguins striker Evan Rodrigues, Marino overtook goalkeeper Alexandar Georgiev’s scorer on the opposite side, scoring his first goal since March 3, 2020.
The Penguins took the lead at the 16:52 mark. After McCann hit a backhand puck in front of the visiting bench across the ice, Rangers defender K’Andre Miller stumbled while defending the puck on the blue line and gave in to striker Kasperi Kapanen. Attacking the net, Kapanen raised a wrister over Georgiev’s glove for his sixth goal.
The score became 3-1 at 17:14, thanks to Penguins striker Sidney Crosby, who scored his eighth goal. Receiving a pass from the neutral zone of defender Brian Dumoulin on the blue offensive line, Crosby emerged between Rangers defenders Adam Fox and Ryan Lindgren, swerved into the left circle and fired a shaky wrister through Georgiev’s glove on the other side.
The Rangers asked for a time limit to regroup and pulled Georgiev in favor of Keith Kinkaid.
Goals from striker Evgeni Malkin’s third period, his sixth at 13:57 in a two-on-one race, and Zach Aston Reese, his fifth at 16:37 in a goalkeeper-style contest, secured the victory.
Seth Rorabaugh is a staff writer for the Tribune-Review. You can contact Seth by email at [email protected] or via Twitter .
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