Penguins score 3 in 2nd period, hold off Rangers without Crosby

NEW YORK -- The Pittsburgh Penguins won a game without Sidney Crosby for the first time since Nov. 11, 2021, defeating the New York Rangers 3-2 at Madison Square Garden on Friday.

Crosby (upper body) missed his first regular-season game since April 7, 2022. The center's status is uncertain for the Penguins’ game at the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday. It’s Pittsburgh's last game before the break for the 4 Nations Face-Off.

Crosby has been named Canada's captain for the best-on-best tournament, which begins Wednesday and runs through Feb. 20.

"They compete hard and they don't look for excuses," Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said of his team. "This was a game that we potentially could have, but we didn't. I thought our guys competed hard. We battled. We found a way. Some guys stepped up, we got good goaltending, but I thought our competitive spirit was as good as it's been."

Blake Lizotte, Rickard Rakell and Philip Tomasino scored, and Bryan Rust had two assists for the Penguins (23-24-9), who have points in four straight games (3-0-1). Alex Nedeljkovic made 22 saves.

The Penguins played without Crosby and center Evgeni Malkin (lower body) for the first time since Nov. 13, 2021.

They got the win in New York with their fathers in the building to start their annual dads’ trip.

"It makes the trip a lot more fun and it'll make the train ride (to Philadelphia) a lot more enjoyable," Nedeljkovic said. "Like 'Sully' said at the beginning here, the beers taste good, they taste better when you win. In saying that, we've got one more job tomorrow. We've put ourselves in a spot to climb back to .500 now. We're hoping to get the job done."

Vincent Trocheck, who will play for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off, had a goal and an assist, and Igor Shesterkin made 23 saves for the Rangers (26-24-4).

"Perception can seem that way, but no one in here was thinking they're missing those two [and] it's going to be an easy night," New York defenseman Adam Fox said, referring to Crosby and Malkin. "They're a well-coached team. They've got good structure. It's never easy playing against them no matter who is in the lineup and who isn't in the lineup. Obviously, it may seem like an easy excuse that they were missing those guys and we thought it was going to be easy, but I don't know if we went into it thinking that."

The Rangers were outshot 26-17 in the first two periods, when Pittsburgh also had a 54-28 advantage in shot attempts.

It flipped to the Rangers outshooting the Penguins 7-0 and having a 32-3 edge in attempts in the third, but it didn't matter. New York had two power plays in the final 6:15, including a nearly full 6-on-4 with Shesterkin pulled for the extra skater, and couldn't score.

"We weren't ready the first 40," Trocheck said. "We outplayed them in the third by a lot, had tons of opportunities, but we can't wait. We can't have that. It's inexcusable. We know where we're at in the standings (sixth in the Metropolitan Division). We know we need every point. Two games left before break, we can't have what just happened.

"You can't lose 40 minutes and expect to win a game."

Trocheck gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead 8:31 into the first period off of Erik Karlsson's giveaway deep in his own zone.

All of Pittsburgh's goals came in a 9:34 span of the second period.

Lizotte tied it 1-1 at 2:25 from the right face-off circle with a low shot to the far side. Matt Rempe's neutral-zone turnover on a pass intercepted by Karlsson started the play that led to Lizotte's first goal in 17 games.

Fox, who will play for the United States at the 4 Nations Face-Off, put the Rangers in front 2-1 at 3:39 with a wide-open wrist shot from the right circle.

Rakell, heading to the 4 Nations Face-Off to play for Sweden, tied it 2-2 at 9:07. He led the breakout, moved the puck to Rust, skated past Alexis Lafreniere and got it back before scoring with a move to his forehand.

"We needed to pick up on the backcheck and we didn't," Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said.

Tomasino's power-play goal on a one-timer from the left circle made it 3-2 for Pittsburgh at 11:59.

"We were on our toes," Rust said. "I think we were playing in their face that entire period. A lot of that period was played in their end. That's a testament to us that if we can play the way we'd like to play most nights that we can be fairly effective."

The Penguins blocked 16 shots in the third period, including eight in the final 2:11.

"We were limiting the quality of the looks that they were getting," Sullivan said. "I thought our guys were digging in and they were willing to block shots and defend the good ice, things of that nature. It's exciting to watch. It's fun to watch those guys when they compete hard like that."

NOTES: Penguins forward Bokondji Imama left the game in the second period. Sullivan said he was being evaluated for an upper-body injury.