Vincent Trocheck scored in the first round of the shootout Saturday afternoon as the New York Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak by rallying for a 3-2 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Rangers chipped away at a 2-0 deficit after allowing goals to Anthony Mantha and Ryan Shea in the opening three minutes of each of the opening two periods.
Trocheck scored the only goal of the shootout when he cut from the lower edge of the left circle, and his shot beat goalie Stuart Skinner to the glove side.
Mika Zibanejad started the comeback with a power-play goal with ten minutes remaining in the second period and Taylor Raddysh tied it 2:57 into the third.
Igor Shesterkin made five of his 32 saves in overtime and stopped Evgeni Malkin twice in the final half of the third and twice in the extra period. He also denied rookie Egor Chinakov in the second round of the shootout, and the Rangers clinched it when Thomas Novak’s attempt in the third round sailed wide.
Mantha scored a power-play goal 2:08 into the first period and Shea scored 1:59 into the second but the Penguins fell to 9-1-3 in its past 13 contests and were unable to earn their third win over the Rangers this season.
Trocheck’s game-winner improved the Rangers to 3-11-2 in their past 16 games and 2-6-1 in their past nine home games.
Skinner stopped 23 shots before getting beaten by Trocheck.
The Penguins appeared poised to cruise to a rout in the opening minutes of the contest and took a 1-0 lead when Mantha tipped Erik Karlsson’s shot from the right point by Shesterkin.
The Penguins appeared to take a 2-0 lead 52 seconds later, but Bryan Rust’s goal was disallowed when the Rangers successfully challenged that Mantha’s skate clipped Shesterkin in the crease, resulting in goaltender interference.
Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead when Shea’s shot from the top of the slot fluttered through traffic and eluded Shesterkin.
Zibanejad halved the deficit with 10 minutes left in the second by sending a one-timer by Skinner after getting a pass from Trocheck, and Raddysh’s re-directed pass from Vladislav Gavrikov got by Skinner’s pads for a 2-2 deadlock.
