In Pittsburgh, the New York Rangers could not hold on to a 3-1 advantage in the second period and surrendered three goals including the game-winner after penalties, 4-3, to the Penguins, on Friday night.
ristan Jarry made 31 saves for the Pens to get the win.
“I think it’s just when those goals go in, just a quick reset,” Jarry said. “I think it’s good for our team. It puts us above .500. It puts us on a bit of a streak. It’s something we can ride off of.”
Filip Chytil, Adam Fox and Kaapo Kakko erased an 0-1 deficit in the second period for the 3-1 lead.
“We have to understand situational hockey,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said. “You’re up 3-1 and a lot of good things are happening, and we just didn’t really understand the moment. With six minutes to go, we’re still doing things like we’re down 3-1. It came back and bit us.
“Our third period, I thought we did some good things too, but it’s a good team. They’re going to push back.”
Teddy Blueger scored with just over three minutes left in regulation to force extra time, which settled nothing.
“I thought we played hard after we got down a couple goals,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Sullivan said. “But it seems to be a little bit of a recurring theme where it takes that type of adversity in the game for us to respond. We’ve got to find ways to have better starts and try to dictate the terms earlier than we did. That’s something that we’ve had a conversation with the players about.”
Jared McCann stopped the Rangers’ run in the middle frame when he cut the deficit to 2-3.
“We can’t keep chasing the game,” McCann said. “There’s going to be teams out there that keep pressing and play a full 60 minutes. We can’t be sitting back. We’ve got to keep pushing forward and it starts with the puck drop.”
Kris Letang was credited with the deciding goal in the skills competition.
Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves in the loss.
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