NEW YORK — Once again, goaltender interference changed the fortunes of the Pittsburgh Penguins (30-15-13).
The team that is 0-for-6 on goaltender interference challenges was the recipient of a crucial overturned goal due to interference early in the first period. The goal would have spotted the Penguins an early 2-0 lead and likely led to the extinction of the struggling New York Rangers (23-29-7).
However, New York overcame their brutal first period, and the Penguins managed to survive their awful next 40 minutes, and the game proceeded through overtime to the shootout. In fact, Evgeni Malkin had a couple of great chances in the final seconds of overtime
The game went to the shootout, where the Penguins fell to 1-8 this season, and New York won, 3-2 at Madison Square Garden Saturday. While it was another missed opportunity, the Penguins earned a point in the loss.
The Penguins were 0-for-3 in the shootout, as Anthony Mantha, Egor Chinakhov, and Tommy Novak failed to score.
The Penguins took advantage of the sleepy Rangers early in the first period. In the first 90 seconds, Penguins rookie Avery Hayes crashed the net and drew a penalty in the process. On the resulting power play, Anthony Mantha (21) deflected a perfectly placed waist-high slapshot by Erik Karlsson for a 1-0 lead at 2:08.
It was very quickly 2-0, but then it wasn’t.
The Penguins’ quest to figure out goaltender interference is becoming a never-ending task without answers. Or logic. The early first-period goal was overturned when refs ruled that New York goalie Igor Shesterkin was impeded when he pushed off to get to the right post, but contacted Mantha’s skate on his follow-through.
Soft contact, big result.
The Penguins didn’t score again in the period despite a 10-2 shot advantage and their 24-12 edge when misses and blocks were factored.
Early in the second period, Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner had a brief moment when he wasn’t counting the commemorated Billy Joel performances at MSG and had to make a quick pad save on New York captain J.T. Miller.
Shortly afterward, Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea commandeered the blue line with a deft spin move away from one defender and slapped a shot both through and off traffic near the net for a 2-0 lead at 1:59.
However, the Penguins waned later in the second period, and the faint New York pulse became real energy.
After Rickard Rakell took a holding penalty in front of the Penguins’ net, New York sprang to life when Mika Zibanejad zipped a wristshot past Skinner from the slot to carve the Penguins’ lead to 2-1 at 10:00.
The remainder of the second period was more about the Penguins defending the New York and searching for themselves. According to NaturalStatTrick.com, the Rangers had 15 scoring chances in the second period, but only four high-danger chances.
But neither team scored.
Early in the third period, the Penguins’ struggles continued, and winger Taylor Raddysh converted an easy tap-in goal for a tied 2-2 game at 2:57 of the third.
After racing to a 16-6 shot advantage in the second period, the Rangers well outshot the Penguins for the remainder of the game. Skinner stopped 21 of 23 in regulation. Shesterkin stopped 26 of 28 in regulation.
Vincent Trocheck scored the only shootout goal.
Categorized:Penguins Postgame
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