Pens KO Rangers
PENGUINS 5 RANGERS 1
PITTSBURGH — Sidney Crosby capped Pittsburgh’s three-goal outburst in the first period, and the Penguins beat the Rangers, 5-1, Sunday night.
Crosby scored his eighth of the season, Kasperi Kapanen netted his sixth and John Marino his first as Pittsburgh scored three goals on six shots in the opening period.
Evgeni Malkin and Zach Aston-Reese scored in the third period as the Penguins won for the ninth time in 13 games. Casey DeSmith stopped 22 shots in his second start since Feb. 11.
Pittsburgh, which recently took two of three from Philadelphia in the highly competitive East Division, has eight wins and points in 11 of its last 12 games against the Rangers.
Mika Zibanejad scored his third of the season for the Rangers, who had their season-best three-game winning streak halted.
Alexandar Georgiev started in net for the Rangers, but was pulled after allowing three goals on six shots. Keith Kinkaid notched 16 saves in his first NHL action since Nov. 30, 2019. Igor Shesterkin remains day-to-day with a groin injury.
Zibanejad scored at 1:18, on the first shot of the game, but Pittsburgh closed the first with the three-goal flurry in just 1:01 to open a 3-1 lead.
Marino tied the game at 16:13 with his first goal since March 3, 2020, and Kapanen gave Pittsburgh the lead 39 seconds later on a breakaway. Kapanen has points in six of his last eight games against the Rangers.
Crosby split a pair of defensemen 22 seconds later and chased Georgiev from the game with a glove-side wrist shot.