Minus Evgeni Malkin, Penguins thumped by Rangers

During warmups at Madison Square Garden in New York, it was revealed Pittsburgh Penguins forward Evgeni Malkin would miss Friday’s game against the New York Rangers because of an undisclosed illness.

Once the contest started, his teammates wasted little time in looking as if they were dealing with some sort of pestilent infirmity, as well.

Allowing the Rangers to score the equivalent of a field goal within the first 4 minutes, 16 seconds regulation, the Penguins were thumped 5-1 by their Metropolitan Division rivals.

The result allowed the third-place Rangers (41-19-5, 87 points) pull within a single point of the Penguins (39-17-10, 88 points).

To compound matters, Penguins backup goaltender Casey DeSmith left the game in the second period because of a suspected head injury. Coach Mike Sullivan did not provide an update on Malkin or DeSmith.

What he did provide was a blunt audit of one of his team’s worst performances of the season.

“We got outplayed in every facet of the game,” Sullivan said to media in New York. “We got outcoached in every facet of the game. There’s no excuses for it. They were just way better than us in every area.”

Things started going catawampus for the Penguins at 2:07 into the first period. Rangers forward Filip Chytil rushed the puck up the right wing, gained the offensive zone and slipped a forehand pass to the front of the slot for linemate Alexis Lafreniere, who gained a step on Penguins defenseman Chad Ruhwedel and put a backhander through goaltender Tristan Jarry’s five hole for his 14th goal of the season. Chytil and forward Barclay Goodrow had assists.

It became a 2-0 lead at the 3:58 mark. After Penguins forwards Sidney Crosby and Jake Guentzel failed to connect on a cross-ice pass off a rush into the offensive zone, Rangers forward Mika Zibanejad corralled the loose puck, reversed ice and directed a forehand stretch pass from his own right half wall across the ice to the far blue line for linemate Chris Kreider. Attacking the net on a breakaway off the right wing, Kreider charbroiled Jarry’s blocker with a forehand shot for his 43rd goal. Zibanejad had the only assist.

The hole got deeper for the Penguins 18 seconds later when Rangers forward Frank Vatrano collected his 12th goal.

Controlling the puck low in the Penguins’ left corner, Zibanejad backhanded a pass to the front of the crease where Vatrano, mostly uncontested, swiped a forehand shot through Jarry’s five hole. Zibanejad and Kreider netted assists. Immediately afterward, the Penguins called a timeout to get organized.

“If you give up three (goals) within the first five minutes, it’s not the way you’re going to have success,” Penguins forward Evan Rodrigues said. “We got behind the eight ball early and couldn’t seem to fight our way back.”

It looked as though the Penguins might begin to claw their way back into the contest at 5:23 of the first when forward Danton Heinen appeared to score a goal. But officials immediately waved it off, ruling goaltender Igor Shesterkin was pushed into the cage. A video review upheld the ruling.

An optimal chance to get on the scoreboard was afforded to the Penguins when Rangers forward Dryden Hunt was assessed a double minor at the 15:50 mark for a high sticking infraction that drew blood on Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson’s nose. But despite having four minutes of power-play time to operate with, the Penguins only could muster three shots.

The Penguins power-play finally saw some offense at 6:37 of the middle frame. It just happened to be from the dangerous duo of Kreider and Zibanejad, who combined on a short-handed score. After an offensive zone turnover by Penguins forward Jeff Carter, Kreider chipped the puck into the neutral zone for Zibanejad. Pushing play up the left wing into the Penguins’ zone, Zibanejad created a two-on-one rush against Crosby and fed a pass to the right circle, where Kreider leaned down and swiped a one-timer past Jarry’s glove on the near side. The lone assist went to Zibanejad.

That score prompted Sullivan to pull Jarry, potentially for humanitarian purposes. DeSmith replaced Jarry temporarily but was pulled from the game at 10:56 of the second period after a collision with Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin that caused DeSmith’s head to make contact with the right goal post. He did not return to the game.

The Penguins’ lone goal came on a power-play chance at 6:00 of the third period. Controlling a puck at the left point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson slid a pass to Heinen above the right circle. From there, Heinen one-touched a pass to the slot for Penguins forward Kasperi Kapanen. Settling the puck for a moment, Kapanen gripped and ripped a wrister towards the cage. Carter was positioned in front of the crease and deflected the puck off the right post and into the cage. Carter was given credit with his 15th goal off assists from Kapanen and Heinen.

The Rangers capped the scoring at 17:47 of the third period. Corralling a loose puck on the right wall of the offensive zone, Rangers forward Ryan Strome banked it off the end boards to linemate Artemi Panarin. With his back to the cage, Panarin fed a slick backhand pass to the slot for Rangers forward Andrew Copp, who snapped a wrister past the glove of a helpless Jarry for his 14th goal. Panarin and Copp had assists.

Jarry made 25 saves on 30 shots as his record fell to 32-13-6.

The Penguins host the Detroit Red Wings on Sunday then face the Rangers again Tuesday at PPG Paints Arena.

An effort similar to what they offered Friday likely will lead to similar results, no matter the opponent.

“It’s two points,” Crosby said. “We’ve got to make sure we don’t have an effort like that for the rest of the year.

“That’s just something that we can’t accept.”

Notes:

• With Malkin scratched, the Penguins dressed an irregular lineup of 11 forwards and seven defensemen, including blueliner Mark Friedman, who had been a healthy scratch for the previous four games.

• DeSmith made three saves on three shots.

• Rodrigues appeared in his 300th career game.

• Zibanejad’s first assist was the 500th point of his career.

• Panarin now has 27 points (12 goals, 15 assists) in 21 career games against the Penguins.