In New York, Andrew Copp hit for his first goal with the New York Rangers on Friday night.
His third period goal blunted any thought of a Pittsburgh Penguins rally in the final stanza, by making the score, 5-1, in the Rangers favor.
Igor Shesterkin made 20 saves in the Rangers win.
Jeff Carter scored a third period, power play goal to get the Pens within 4-1.
“I’m not going to make any excuses,” Pittsburgh’s Sidney Crosby said. “They played well. They dominated every area and we didn’t have a lot of pushback. You can look at all the reasons, but that’s reality.”
Ne York improved to 41-18-5.
Chris Kreider hit for a pair of goals, including a shorthanded breakaway in the second period.
“That’s the way we can play,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “Tonight was probably our most complete game.”
Frank Vatrano also scored for the Rangers, his second since joining the Rangers from the Florida Panthers.
The Rangers took a 3-0 lead in the first 4:16 of the opening period.
Alexis Lafreniere opened the scoring off a feed from Filip Chytil for a 1-0 lead.
“I thought he was excellent tonight,” Gallant said of Lafreniere.
Kreider made it 2-0 right after.
“It was good to come back to my natural side,” Lafreniere said. “I can play both sides, and we have so many options in our forward group. We’re really deep. So wherever I need to play, I’ll be ready, and it was a good game for everybody.”
Vatrano pushed the lead to 3-0.
“We got outplayed in every facet of the game,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said. “We got outcoached in every facet of the game. There’s no excuses for it. They were just way better than us in every area.”
The Rangers were threatened in the first period when they had to kill off a four-minute penalty.
“To me the turning point was killing that four-minute penalty at the end of the first period,” Gallant said. “If they would have got one it’s a different story, but it takes a lot out of them when they don’t score on that four-minute power play.”
For the Penguins, the Kreider shorthanded goal was the deal killer.
“I think it was microcosm of our overall game,” Sullivan said. “We struggled making tape-to-tape passes. We couldn’t execute. We made poor decisions. We lacked awareness. We just weren’t good in any aspect of the game.”
Tristan Jarry made 25 saves in his ice time. He was given the hook in the middle frame after New York took a 4-0 lead.
He yielded four goals and made just seven saves before the hook.
Casey DeSmith relieving Jarry, but he left the crease with an injury.
Jarry made 14 saves after returning to the crease.
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