Tristan Jarry made 27 saves for his fourth shutout of the season, and Evgeni Malkin scored the game’s only goal 5:09 into the third period as the Pittsburgh Penguins defeated the visiting New York Rangers 1-0 on Saturday.
The Penguins ended a three-game losing streak and moved back into second place in the Metropolitan Division, one point ahead of the Rangers.
Jarry, who was pulled midway through Pittsburgh’s 6-1 home loss to the New Jersey Devils on Thursday, earned his 11th career shutout and first against the Rangers. The division rivals played for the first of four times this season.
The Rangers had won their previous two games and were 5-0-1 in their previous six.
Malkin broke up a scoreless duel between Jarry and New York’s Igor Shesterkin after the Penguins got a power play when New York defenseman Ryan Lindgren was called for hooking Sidney Crosby to break up a scoring chance. Crosby controlled the puck in the left corner and fed Bryan Rust in the left circle. Rust’s circle-to-circle backhand pass found Malkin, whose one-timer to the far side beat Shesterkin for his eighth goal of the season.
Crosby’s assist was the 1,374th career point of his career, moving him into a tie with Mike Modano for 25th on the all-time NHL scoring list. He is the fifth player to reach the top 25 and get all of his points with the same team. Pittsburgh’s captain has 24 points in his past 17 games.
Shesterkin finished with 25 saves. He had won seven of his previous nine decisions and 12 of his previous 14 starts.
The Rangers took the game’s first seven shots and dominated the first period, finishing with a 12-6 shot advantage, but were unable to beat Jarry. The Penguins kept Shesterkin busier in the second period, when they outshot the Rangers 9-5 and had several fine chances but couldn’t score.
–Field Level Media
