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Sidney Crosby-less Penguins come together to earn road victory against Rangers | TribLIVE.com
Penguins/NHL

Sidney Crosby-less Penguins come together to earn road victory against Rangers

Seth Rorabaugh
Seth Rorabaugh
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The Penguins’ Rickard Rakell (second from right) celebrates his goal with teammates during the second period Friday against the Rangers.
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The Penguins’ Erik Karlsson (left) tries to get the puck from the Rangers’ Zac Jones during the first period Friday.
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The Penguins’ Erik Karlsson brings the puck around the net during the first period against the Rangers on Friday.
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Penguins goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic makes a save against the Rangers during the first period Friday.
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The Penguins’ Emil Bemstrom (left) and Vincent Desharnais try to stop the Rangers’ K’Andre Miller during the first period Friday.
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The Rangers’ Matt Rempe, left, and Braden Schneider, second from right, scuffle for the puck with the Penguins’ Danton Heinen, second from left, and Michael Bunting, right, in front of Rangers goaltender Igor Shesterkin during the second period Friday.
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The Penguins’ Philip Tomasino (left) celebrates his goal with Bryan Rust during the second period against the New York Rangers on Friday.
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The Rangers’ Will Borgen (right) fends off the Penguins’ Philip Tomasino during the second period Friday.

The Pittsburgh Penguins aren’t necessarily deviating from how they go about their business sans the services of superstar center Sidney Crosby.

But in their first regular-season game without Crosby since April 2022, they strayed from the usual level of success they have enjoyed most of the season.

That’s to say they enjoyed an infrequent division win Friday, defeating the New York Rangers, 3-2, at Madison Square Garden with Crosby scratched with a suspected left arm injury.

It was only the Penguins’ fourth win against Metropolitan Divisional rivals this season.

Hobbled during a 3-2 home shootout loss to the New Jersey Devils on Tuesday, Crosby was scratched Friday, snapping a consecutive games played streak of 229. That sequence was the longest active streak on the team and the ninth-longest in franchise history.

One streak that continued was the absence of the team’s other superstar center, Evgeni Malkin, who missed his fifth consecutive game with an undisclosed injury. That prompted the team to install Rickard Rakell, typically deployed as a winger, as the top-line center to open Friday’s contest.

Adding to the Penguins’ personnel woes Friday was the premature departure of fourth-line forward Boko Imama, who did not record a shift beyond the 2 minute, 25 second mark of the second period. There was no substantive word on his status beyond the team posting via social media that he had suffered an undisclosed injury.

“We’re going to put the best group on the ice that we have available to us,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan proclaimed Wednesday in Cranberry. “That’s the way we look at it. It’s a next-man-up mindset. Regardless of what our injury situation looks like, that’s always the approach we’ve taken. Players embrace that challenge.”

Rangers forward Vince Trocheck, a native of Upper St. Clair, embraced the charity of an ugly turnover by Penguins defenseman Erik Karlsson and opened the scoring with his 17th goal of the season 8:31 into regulation.

From the center red line near the benches, Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren chucked the puck into the Penguins’ zone to allow some teammates to make a line change. The puck rimmed around the end boards and Karlsson claimed it in the left corner. Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere applied pressure with a forecheck and broke up Karlsson’s attempt at a pass, causing it to bounce to the near circle. Trocheck settled the bouncing puck and released a wrister from above the upper left hashmark, beating goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic’s blocker on the near side. Karlsson smashed his stick over the cage in discountenance. Lafreniere had the only assist.

Penguins forward Blake Lizotte snapped a 16-game goalless streak with his ninth score 2:25 into the second period.

Karlsson made amends for his miscue and stole a pass in the neutral zone then chipped the puck into the Rangers’ zone up the right wing. Penguins forward Noel Acciari chased the puck down on the half-wall, spun off a check from Rangers defenseman Zach Jones and then offloaded a backhand pass to the near faceoff dot. Lizotte accepted the pass and elevated a far-side wrister by goaltender Igor Shesterkin’s blocker. Acciari and Karlsson claimed assists.

The Rangers restored a lead only 74 seconds later via defenseman Adam Fox’s fourth goal.

After Penguins forward Danton Heinen failed to clear a puck off his own right half wall, Trocheck took possession and slid a backhand pass to the left point for Lindgren, who quickly fed it back to Trocheck. Considering his options for a moment from above the left circle, Trocheck distributed a pass to the opposite circle for Fox. Operating with an acre of ice and a calendar of time, Fox fired a far-side wrister by Nedeljkovic’s blocker. Lafreniere supplied a screen on the sequence. Trocheck and Lindgren logged assists.

Rakell registered his team-leading 25th goal at 9:07 of the second.

Forcing Rangers forward Artemi Panarin into a turnover in Pittsburgh’s left corner, Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk chipped a backhand pass up the near wall for forward Anthony Beauvillier, who initiated a rush up ice, allowing linemate Bryan Rust to gain the neutral zone with a backhand pass. From near the home bench, Rust backhanded a centering pass for Rakell, who crossed the center red line and backhanded a return to Rust. Entering the Rangers’ zone on the right wing, Rust slipped a forehand pass through traffic to the top of the left circle for Rakell, who attacked the cage with minimal resistance and flipped a forehand shot over an aggressive Shesterkin’s left leg on the far side. Assists were registered by Rust and Beauvillier.

The Penguins’ first lead of the contest came at 11:59 of the second period when forward Philip Tomasino tallied his seventh goal during a power-play sequence.

Settling a rimmed puck behind the Rangers’ cage, Penguins forward Michael Bunting veered to the right corner and centered a pass below the lower right hashmark. Fending off Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller, Rust deftly deflected the puck to the left circle where Tomasino leaned down on his right leg and pumped a wrister through Shesterkin’s five hole. Rust and Bunting racked up assists.

“When you score a couple, it certainly helps with confidence and energy and all of those things,” Sullivan said to reporters in New York via audio provided by the team’s media relations staff. “It’s just such a game of momentum.”

Starting a season-high fifth consecutive game, Nedeljkovic stopped 22 of 24 shots as his record improved to 12-9-5.

“We didn’t give them any time or space,” Nedeljkovic said to reporters in New York. “We didn’t give them any easy offense, really.”

Notes:

• With Crosby scratched, Karlsson now has the Penguins’ longest active consecutive games played streak at 138. He has yet to miss a game since joining the Penguins in August of 2023.

• Karlsson, Acciari and Grzelcyk are the only members of the team who have appeared in all 56 of the Penguins’ games this season.

• The last regular season contest Crosby was absent for was a 6-3 home loss to the Washington Capitals on April 9, 2022. He was scratched due to illness.

• Penguins forward Emil Bemstrom was recalled from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League on Friday morning. He made his season debut at the NHL level, opening play as left wing of the third line. Logging 12:40 of ice time on 18 shifts, including 1:19 on power-play sequences, Bemstrom had one shot on one attempt.

• With Crosby scratched and Malkin on injured reserve, Karlsson, Rust and defenseman Kris Letang served as alternate captains.

• Skating extensively at center for the first time in more than a decade, Rakell was 9 of 16 on faceoffs (56%).

• Five of Tomasino’s seven goals this season are game-winning scores. He is tied with Crosby for the team lead in game-winning goals.

• Penguins forward Matt Nieto and defenseman Ryan Shea were healthy scratches.

Seth Rorabaugh is a TribLive reporter covering the Pittsburgh Penguins. A North Huntingdon native, he joined the Trib in 2019 and has covered the Penguins since 2007. He can be reached at srorabaugh@triblive.com.

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