Mantha, Acciari each scores twice, Penguins hold off Rangers

PITTSBURGH -- Anthony Mantha and Noel Acciari each scored twice to help the Pittsburgh Penguins to their sixth straight win, 6-5 against the New York Rangers at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.

Rickard Rakell had a goal and an assist, and Blake Lizotte and Connor Dewar each had two assists for the Penguins (28-14-11), who have outscored their opponents 31-15 during the winning streak. Stuart Skinner made 15 saves.

“There’s things we’ll clean up,” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “But we did the things we needed to do to win. ... There were definitely more positives than anything.”

Alexis Lafreniere had two goals and an assist, Vincent Trocheck had a goal and two assists, and Vladislav Gavrikov had a goal and an assist for the Rangers (22-28-6), who have lost three in a row, six of seven and 11 of 13 (2-10-1). Jonathan Quick made 28 saves.

“I’m proud of the guys, the way they compete,” said New York coach Mike Sullivan, whose team was 4-for-5 on the penalty kill. “They just stick to it. I thought we competed hard in the third period, but we take too many penalties, you know? And they’re just lack-of-discipline penalties. ... It taxes some of our top players.”

Mantha put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 at 2:37 of the first period, deflecting a shot from Rutger McGroarty.

Acciari made it 2-0 at 6:05. He took a pass from Lizotte for a one-timer in the left face-off circle.

Mantha extended the lead to 3-0 at 12:59 of the second period with his 19th goal this season and fifth in four games. Quick made a diving save on Rakell, who collected the rebound in the left circle for a backhand pass to set up a wrist shot by Mantha from just outside the crease.

Asked what’s worked well for him during his first season with the Penguins, Mantha said, “Confidence. The trust level from the team, teammates, coaches, my work I put in mentally, physically. And good things are happening.”

Lafreniere cut it to 3-1 on a 4-on-3 power play at 18:28 with New York’s first of two shots in the second, a wrist shot from the right circle under Skinner’s glove.

Rakell and Acciari scored 20 seconds apart early in the third period. Rakell tapped in a pass from Sidney Crosby on the power play, pushing the lead to 4-1 at 1:20; Acciari scored on a loose puck near the left post off a missed shot from Lizotte to make it 5-1 at 1:40.

“Can’t let up two goals in 20 seconds,” Trocheck said. “We’ve got to be paying more attention to detail. ... We were in right spots a lot of times too. We were where we’re supposed to be. We’re not executing our job. We just have to be better at that.

“Giving up six goals, giving up two in 20. You just can’t do it.”

Trocheck pulled the Rangers to within 5-2 at 9:12 by going forehand to backhand on a short-handed breakaway, and Gavrikov cut it to 5-3 on a one-timer at 15:15.

Ben Kindel scored an empty-net goal for Pittsburgh to make it 6-3 at 17:28 before New York scored the final two goals.

“It's a little closer than we would have liked,” said Crosby, the Penguins captain. “But sometimes you have to win games like that. Entertaining for the fans and for the guys that were in attendance. So yeah, we'll take the two points and try to learn from it.”

Lafreniere chipped in a pass from Trocheck, cutting it to 6-4 at 18:53, and Will Cuylle scored on a rebound at 19:49 for the 6-5 final.

“I don’t know. Score five goals and lose the game,” Rangers captain J.T. Miller said. “I guess the only positive today is we didn’t quit, kept pushing. Came down to the wire. But when you have to score six times, it’s pretty hard to win the game.

“I don’t know. I like that we didn’t quit. That’s about it.”

NOTES: Muse is the second coach in Penguins history with multiple winning streaks of at least six games in his first season with the franchise (also six from Dec. 28-Jan. 8), joining Sullivan (eight games and six games in 2015-16). ... Pittsburgh defenseman Erik Karlsson had a secondary assist on Rakell’s goal to become the 12th defenseman with 700 assists in the NHL. ... Penguins defenseman Kris Letang was placed on injured reserve Saturday. He will miss at least four weeks with a foot fracture. ... New York forward Noah Laba left with an upper-body injury early in the second period. There was no update on him.