Rangers Rally, Dump Skidding Penguins, 5-3

The Penguins’ down-bound train continued to roll unabated this afternoon at PPG Paints Arena with a 5-3 come-in-front loss to the Rangers.

Once again, the Pens dictated play for a good chunk of the contest. We were particularly dominant in the second period, piling up a whopping 35-10 edge in shot attempts, including an equally staggering 18-4 advantage in shots on goal.

Alas, between Rangers netminder Igor Shesterkin flashing his Vezina Trophy form and our finishing struggles, none of those shots found their way to the back of the net.

Down 2-1 entering the third period, the script suddenly flipped, and in as bizarre a way imaginable. Spare defenseman Ryan Shea, a healthy scratch in the past half-dozen games, scored not one but two goals within a span of 154 seconds.

Just when it looked as though we might get rewarded for our considerable sweat equity and diligence?

You guessed it. A scant 50 seconds after Shea’s second tally, Jimmy Vesey sliced into the black-and-gold zone, pulled up at the top of the right circle, and beat Joel Blomqvist high glove side to knot the score at 3-all.

Seven minutes later, ex-Pen Reilly Smith fed Adam Fox on the rush. The skilled Blueshirts defender eluded a stick check by Shea, found a seam between our defense, and beat Blomqvist through the six-hole.

Pittsburgh-area native J.T. Miller, who struck on a 2-on-1 late in the second period, notched his second of the game into an empty net with seven seconds left to squelch a late Pens surge and cinch it for the Rangers.

Puckpourri

Evgeni Malkin staked us to an early lead on a net-front deflection, his 10^th goal of the season. Geno also registered a primary assist on Shea’s first tally.

Just prior to Shea’s initial goal, Sidney Crosby tried to fire up the troops by exchanging whacks and hacks with Rangers forward Will Cuylle. As Crosby exited to the bench, Noel Acciari hopped over the boards at Mike Sullivan’s behest and made a bee-line for Cuylle.

Sid’s assist on Shea’s second goal was his 60^th point of the campaign. It’s the 16^th time in his illustrious career he’s reached that mark.

Shea was in the lineup as a replacement for newcomer Vincent Desharnais, who had a rough game against the Caps (minus-2). After starting the afternoon on the right side next to Ryan Graves on the third pairing, Shea switched to his natural side beside Erik Karlsson.

The reason? Matt Grzelcyk got crunched into the boards by towering Blueshirts baddie Matt Rempe and exited the game with an upper-body injury. Michael Bunting and Cody Glass got dinged up as well.

Figures. No Desharnais? No Boko Imama (apparently still injured)? Bodies go flying. Mostly ours (the Rags outhit us, 29-11).

Oh, and no Bryan Rust, either. Which means more Matt Nieto.

I’m not sure if I’m allowed to repeat this in print, but apparently Paul Steigerwald was heard to remark, “The taller the player, the shorter the leash.”

When it comes to our Penguies, how true.

While by no means pinning all the blame on him, it’s safe to say Blomqvist (four goals allowed, 11 saves) didn’t play particularly well. He has a penchant for going down early, leaving his glove hand vulnerable to rising shots like the one Vesey scored on. Seems to get a little deer-in-the-headlights-ish when things turn sour as well.

Obviously, Joel’s young and there’s a learning curve involved. Growing pains, too.

For the record, he hasn’t had a banner year with the Baby Pens (2.93 GAA, .910 SV%).

With three-straight regulation losses, the Pens (23-27-9, 55 points) have wrestled sole possession of last place in the Metro away the Flyers, our next opponent. We face John Tortorella’s crew in a home-and-home matchup this week, starting on Tuesday in Philly.

As of this post, we have the sixth-fewest points in the league and the third-worst goal differential (-44).