Ranger Danger, Penguins Hang on for Crucial Win

Back in the day, my dad’s favorite lubricant for household chores was 3-in-1 Oil. I’m sharing that little snippet because it’s the perfect metaphor for last night’s Penguins-Rangers Metro tussle at PPG Paints Arena. It was kind of 3 games in 1.

The first 33 minutes or so was literally all Rangers. Following a game-opening rush by the Sidney Crosby line, the visitors immediately countered on a 3-on-2. Pittsburgh native and marquee off-season signing Vincent Trocheck fed Chris Kreider, who fired a wide-angle shot from the boards. The puck glanced off the stick of Pens d-man Marcus Pettersson and past Tristan Jarry’s glove. Just 22 seconds in and the Rangers are up one-zip.

I generally jot down notes to myself as I’m watching a game. Although written in my own special shorthand, they gave an accurate account of the action…or lack of on the Pens’ behalf.

“Very little mo (momentum) for Pens. Pens chasing puck, play and Rangers. Very little possession. Pens look slow and out of sync… Absolutely no flow for the Pens. In and out (of the Rangers’ zone). Not even one and done.”

Indeed, with the exception of an oasis-in-the-desert-type shot from the slot by Bryan Rust near the seven-minute mark of the second period that Igor Shesterkin coolly gloved? As noted hockey pugilist and sage Dave “Tiger” Williams once said of an earlier vintage of Penguins, “Them guys is done like dinner.”

And so it appeared to be for our current crop last night.

Until…

…like a bolt from the blue (shirts), Jason Zucker and Evgeni Malkin spearheaded a strong shift by our second line with about seven minutes to play in the second frame. A development so out of character at that stage of the game that I included it in my notes.

Awake at last, we pressured K’Andre Miller into an interference penalty a short time later.

Cue Malkin. Or should I say, clear the track for the big guy. Thanks to a quick reentry, we caught the Rangers out of position. Crosby slipped a cross-ice pass to Geno at the left point. With nothing but wide open spaces between he and Public Enemy No. 1 (Jacob Trouba), No. 71 strode to the top of the left circle and let ‘er rip. The puck sailed past (or through) Rickard Rakell and tickled the twine glove side on Shesterkin.

Suddenly, we’re tied at 1-1.

Then, with just inside two minutes left in the period, Brock McGinn checked Sammy Blais hard into the boards in front of the black-and-gold bench. The Rangers’ grinder took exception and popped McGinn in the mush to hand us another power play.

It nearly backfired when the Rangers alit on a 2-on-1 shorthanded, but Jarry made a game-saving stop on Kreider. With the waning seconds ticking off the clock, Rust scooped up his own rebound and fed Pierre-Olivier Joseph at the left point. POJ circled and lobbed a perfectly placed wrister that found the stick of Rust parked in the slot. The Rusty Razor deftly deflected the rubber past a suddenly mortal Shesterkin.

With the notable exception of a breakaway attempt by Kreider, the ice continued to tilt in the Pens’ favor through the early portion of the final period. At 8:40, Rakell headmanned the puck to Jake Guentzel, who spied Crosby cutting in from the left. Jake slid the puck past Trouba and Sid did the rest, slipping a crisp backhander through Shesterkin’s wickets.

A delicious goal and a 3-1 lead for our boys.

Unfortunately, game No. 3 started just past the midpoint of the period. Trocheck literally blew up Joseph with an inside-out move and flew past a sprawling Chad Ruhwedel before finding Kreider cruising down the far side for an easy goal.

For the next 10 minutes the Rangers pressed furiously for the tying goal while the Pens struggled to clear the puck, in the process running up an 8-2 advantage in shots on goal. Our rivals had one last golden opportunity with 35 left when the ever-dangerous Mika Zibanejad left Brian Dumoulin in the dust, but Jarry stoned the Broadway sniper.

PHEW.

Hardly the way you draw it up on the white board, but a huge victory for our boys nonetheless.

Make that HUGE.

Puckpourri

Indicative of the way the game was played, the Rangers held the edge in shot attempts (63-43), shots on goal (28-24) and scoring chances (38-25). The Pens held the high ground in faceoffs (56 percent) and high-danger chances (11-10). We also had an unsightly 17 giveaways.

Jarry was again magnificent, turning aside 26 shots, many of the Grade-A variety. He had a little help from his friends…the Rangers struck the crossbar three times.

Zucker was a surprise return after missing two games with a lower-body injury. Expected to be out week-to-week, he and linemates Malkin and Rust helped ignite our competitive fires. Loved Mike Sullivan’s quote about the peppery winger.

“(Zucker) is one of the more vocal guys we have on our team,” Sully said. “He engages a lot with that game-away-from-the-game, so to speak, with some of the talk that goes on between our opponents and our team on the ice. (Zucker) is pretty good at that. He has the ability to drag us into the fight, just with his energy, his competitiveness. He plays the game with a little bit of reckless abandon.”

Again, thank the Lord we didn’t trade him. And thank the Lord he’s back.

In the revenge-is-a-dish-best-served-cold department, Trouba (Mr. Chicken Wing Elbow) was on the ice for two Pens goals, including one featuring last spring’s victims Crosby and Guentzel.

Once again our special teams were huge. We killed off three Rangers power plays (they were 7-of-their-last-16 with the man advantage coming in). And we converted on two of three power plays, running our streak to nine games with at least one power-play goal.

Josh Archibald sat out with a lower-body injury. In his absence, Kasperi Kapanen led our physical charge with eight hits.

Ryan Poehling departed early with an apparent upper-body injury.

On Tap

The Pens (19-9-4, 42 points) leapfrog the Rangers (18-11-5, 41 points) and into third place in the Metro, two points behind skidding New Jersey (losers of six straight). Next up, the division-leading ‘Canes on Thursday night at the Paint Can.