Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang each had two goals, and the
Pittsburgh Penguins climbed back into playoff position with a 6-5 win over the
New York Rangers on Sunday.
Defensemen Marcus Pettersson and Brian Dumoulin also scored
for the Penguins (31-21-7), who leapfrogged the Carolina Hurricanes for the
second Eastern Conference wild-card spot.
Mats Zuccarello had two goals, and Kevin Hayes and Mika
Zibanejad scored over the game’s final 5:46 for the Rangers, who couldn’t
complete a second rally after erasing a 3-1 deficit to tie it late in the
second period.
The Rangers were not able to take the lead during a
four-minute power play that spanned the second intermission. Forty-nine seconds
after that penalty expired, Letang took a feed from Sidney Crosby and beat
goalie Alexandar Georgiev.
Malkin then scored twice in a span of 2:31 to give him four
goals in two games since serving a one-game suspension for a stick-swinging
incident.
Crosby had three assists to give him 11 points in his past
five games, helping to atone for the high-sticking double-minor that gave the
Rangers a prime chance to take the lead.
The Penguins had won just seven of their previous 17 games
to fall in danger of missing the postseason for the first time since 2005-06.
Malkin has had, by his standards, an off season. But he has
points in seven consecutive games that he has played over the past month,
interrupted by missing five games with an upper-body injury and the one game
because of suspension.
Letang opened the scoring 16:11 into the game. He has 15
goals, one off his career high set in 2015-16.
It was the first time all season the Penguins got four goals
from defensemen.
Zuccarello’s goals were his 10th and 11th, each tying the
game. Ryan Strome also scored for New York, which had won three of its previous
five.
GAME NOTES
The Rangers scratched D Brady Skjei (lower-body injury
sustained during Friday’s game), C Brett Howden (MCL sprain) and RW Jesper
Fast. Fast scored during Friday’s win but has reportedly been dealing with an
undisclosed injury. … Penguins D Chad Ruhwedel was in the lineup for the third
consecutive game after having not played prior to that since Nov. 19. …
Penguins LW Tanner Pearson was a healthy scratch for the second consecutive day
after he had been in the lineup for every game since his acquisition from the
Los Angeles Kings in November.
UP NEXT
RANGERS: New York
wraps up a four-game trip Tuesday at Carolina.
PENGUINS:
Continuing a stretch of four divisional matchups over a five-game span, the
Penguins play at New Jersey on Tuesday.
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