Penguins rally past Rangers for 4-3 shootout victory
PITTSBURGH — Mike Sullivan is impressed with his team’s resiliency. The Pittsburgh Penguins coach would just prefer it if his players didn’t rely on it so much.
Kris Letang scored in the final round of a shootout, and Pittsburgh beat the New York Rangers 4-3 on Friday night for its third straight comeback victory.
Letang ripped a backhand over Igor Shesterkin to put the Penguins in front. Tristan Jarry collected his first win of the season when he stuffed New
York’s Tony DeAngelo moments later. Jarry’s teammates poured over the boards to celebrate, while Sullivan exhaled after Pittsburgh scrambled back from a two-goal deficit.
“Once again it seems to be a bit of a recurring theme where it takes that type of adversity in the game for us to respond,” Sullivan said. “We’ve got to find ways to have better starts.”
New York’s Filip Chytil, Adam Fox and Kaapo Kakko scored in a 3:01 span of the second period to give the Rangers a 3-1 lead. Shesterkin made 26 stops but let in two of the three shots he faced in the shootout.
“Just a part of our learning curve,” Rangers coach David Quinn said. “We have to understand we’re up 3-1, there’s a certain way to play. Certainly didn’t do that tonight.”
Rookie rut: New York forward Alex Lafreniere, the top pick in the 2020 draft, is still looking for his first NHL point despite moving to the top line with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider. Lafreniere didn’t record a shot and was on the ice for a pair of Penguin goals.
“Alexis continues to do good things,” Quinn said. “He’s going to continue to get better. It’s Game 4 into his NHL career. I just love his passion and enthusiasm.”
Rookie rave: Pittsburgh defenseman Pierre-Olivier Joseph played 13:02 in his NHL debut and picked up the primary assist on Blueger’s goal when his blast from the point hit off the end boards and ended up on Blueger’s stick just outside the crease. Joseph, part of the trade that sent Phil Kessel to Arizona in June 2019, was forced into action following injuries to Marcus Pettersson and Juuso Riikola.