Rangers can't complete comeback in loss to Penguins

Western Pennsylvania has been a tough place for the Rangers this season.

After winning three straight games against the bottom two teams in the East Division, and with some of their top players returning to the lineup, the Rangers went into Pittsburgh for two games against the Penguins feeling good about themselves, and just four points out of a playoff spot. And despite a pair of early leads and a great third period Tuesday, they left seven points back after being swept by the Penguins, who beat them, 4-2, Tuesday.

Farmingville's Keith Kinkaid made his first start as a Ranger in goal and totaled 23 saves.

It was the third time in four games in Pittsburgh that the Rangers had lost, but they could reasonably talk about how proud they were of their effort. Down 3-1 after two periods, the Rangers got an early power-play goal in the third by Ryan Strome, which gave them life. And Mika Zibanejad set up Pavel Buchnevich for two glorious chances to tie the score, with 2:35 remaining and again with 2:15 left. But Buchnevich was foiled both times by Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry.

Despite dominating possession and outshooting the Penguins 15-1 in the period, the Rangers could not complete the comeback. Sidney Crosby’s empty-net goal with 32.7 seconds remaining was the Penguins’ only shot in the period.

"Goals at the end of the last minute of the first and second period kind of killed us a little bit,’’ Strome said afterward. "We were much better off than the night before [a 5-1 loss Sunday], but unfortunately when you're chasing this team [in the standings] and you lose both, it's frustrating. So there's not much we could take away from this one in terms of feeling good, I think. We’ve got to play good every night (given) the position we're in.’’

The position the Rangers are in is a 10-11-3 record (23 points) after 24 games, good for sixth place in the rough-and-tumble East Division, where only the top four teams will make the playoffs. With the win, and Boston’s shootout loss to the Islanders, the Penguins (15-9-1) jumped into third place and the Bruins (13-6-3) fell into fourth. The Rangers will complete their six-game road trip with a pair of games in Boston Thursday and Saturday.

Kinkaid, who has spent most of the season on the Rangers’ taxi squad, made his first NHL start since November of 2019. He stopped 23 of 26 shots in the first two periods, and didn’t face a shot in the third. He perhaps did his best work in the first period, when the Rangers were outshot 16-7.

"I thought he was solid,’’ coach David Quinn said. "I thought he made some saves early that allowed us to weather the storm. I thought they blitzed us pretty good early in the game, and I thought we managed to get out of that [first] period, 1-1, and I thought we were fortunate.’’

As they did in Sunday’s 5-1 loss to the Penguins, the Rangers scored first Tuesday, a goal by former Penguins defenseman Jack Johnson. But the Penguins got three straight goals – from Jake Guentzel at 18:54 of the first, a shorthanded effort from Teddy Blueger at 2:40 of the second, and a goal from Kasperi Kapanen at 19:40 of the second – to take a 3-1 lead into the third period.

The Rangers are 1-3-2 against Pittsburgh, and while forward Chris Kreider liked his team’s effort in the game, he couldn’t help feeling somewhat frustrated with the ultimate result.

"We've talked a lot about how tough our division is, and that team's gonna sharpen us up I think,’’ Kreider said. "They came from behind and beat us; they've beaten us in close ones; they punched us in the mouth the other night. So at the end of the day we got to find a way to get those two points.’’

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.