Kris Letang scored a power-play goal on a one-timer from the top of the slot at 1:38 of overtime Sunday to give the Pittsburgh Penguins a 3-2 win over the visiting New York Rangers.
It was the first of three meetings in a seven-day span for the two Metropolitan Division teams.
Rickard Rakell and Jason Zucker also scored, and Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin each had two assists for the Penguins, who are 7-1-1 in their past nine games.
Pittsburgh goaltender Tristan Jarry made 27 saves.
Barclay Goodrow and Chris Kreider scored for the Rangers, who had won two straight.
New York goaltender Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves.
Pittsburgh defenseman Dmitry Kulikov did not play in the third period after sustaining an apparent lower-body injury after blocking a shot in the second.
Rakell gave the Penguins a 1-0 lead at 6:03 of the first during a five-on-three power play. From the upper, inner edge of the right circle, Rakell converted a feed from Crosby, who was lower in the same circle, and used a screen by Jake Guentzel to beat Halak.
It was Crosby’s 50th assist.
At 11:18 of the first, New York got a good sequence from its fourth line as Goodrow tied it 1-1. Jimmy Vesey’s wraparound attempt at the right post didn’t get past Jarry, but Goodrow got a short rebound and pushed it under Jarry’s glove.
Pittsburgh broke the tie quickly in the second. Zucker’s shot from the left point was going wide, but the puck deflected off the right skate of the Rangers’ Mika Zibanejad in the slot and caromed up and under the crossbar at 1:21 to make it 2-1.
That gave Zucker goals in four straight games, and nine in eight games.
Kreider tied it at 9:09 of the third. Vincent Trocheck felled Malkin for the second time on the same shift, this time in New York’s end. That led to a Rangers three-on-two, and Kreider scored stick side from the slot.
–Field Level Media
