The Rangers lived and died with one goal and one goal games at the start of the season.
They were both crushed once again on Saturday night.
Sidney Crosby delivered the dagger in overtime to pick up the Penguins next to the Rangers, 5-4, at the Garden.
Crosby’s winner at 2:27 of extra time came at the end of a long change for Tony DeAngelo, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad, who looked exhausted after standing on the ice for two consecutive minutes (DeAngelo just shy of it) while the Penguins made several line changes.
But the Rangers lost the game in the third period, in which they entered with a 4-3 lead after returning from three deficits separated by a single goal. The Penguins tilted the ice in the last 20 minutes of regulation, which led to the fourth time in the last five games that the Rangers had a one-goal lead in the third period.
“It seemed like a lot of fun for them in the third period,” said Chris Kreider, visibly frustrated.
“It simply came to our notice then. We showed what we can do in spurts. We understand what we need to do to be successful, and then the intensity increases a little in the third period from there and suddenly we move away from it and start going east-west and not advancing the areas. You don’t win at the NHL by doing that. When the push came to push in the third period, they were going north, putting pucks behind our G, which we did all night and we did it successfully all night and we just got rid of him.
Jake Guentzel tied the game at four in the middle of the third with a goal that came in the second attempt to recover. Alexandar Georgiev (33 saves) stopped the first two shots from close range, but could not come up with a third save.
The rangers had been swept away by the penguins in a two-game game set in Pittsburgh last week, including a gunshot wound. In both games, the Rangers had a one-goal lead in the third period, only to see it evaporate both times. Saturday was more like the Rangers played their sixth straight game with a single goal, with just one win to show.
“Probably as bad a time as we played all year,” said coach David Quinn. “They beat us at every free puck, they won every battle. … They were smarter and looked a little hungrier than us in the third period. They just won a lot of foot races to lose pucks, they won battles and we were very gentle around our net. ”
The Rangers had come out strong and, even after falling behind, found an answer for the Penguins’ first three goals. Brendan Lemieux, Kevin Rooney (abbreviated) and Kreider scored all draws before Artemi Panarin gave the Rangers their first lead of the game, 4-3, in a power strike at the end of the second period.
Then came the third period, when the Rangers struggled to bring puck behind the Penguins’ defense and slowly followed another lead through their hands.
“That’s just winning hockey,” Kreider said. “No team in the league can throw the sticks there and play east-west and try to make their way to victory. I have to go north at some point. Not enough space, not enough time. You have to turn to them. You have to make them walk 200 feet. [Instead], we turn puck over the lines, we turn puck in the neutral zone, we don’t make them take puck out of the corners. ”