Tomasino scores tiebreaking goal and short-handed Penguins hold on to beat Rangers 3-2

NEW YORK -- — Philip Tomasino scored the go-ahead goal midway through the second period, and the short-handed Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Friday night.

Blake Lizotte and Rickard Rakell also scored and Bryan Rust had two assists for the Penguins, who won for the third time in four games despite playing without captain Sidney Crosby for the first time in three seasons. Alex Nedeljkovic made 25 saves.

Vincent Trocheck and Adam Fox scored for the Rangers, who snapped a two-game win streak. Igor Shesterkin finished with 23 saves.

Crosby was out due to an upper-body injury. He had played every game since the start of the 2022-23 seasons and leads the team with 58 points, including 17 goals. Evgeni Malkin also missed his fifth straight game with a lower-body injury.

Tomasino fired a shot past Shesterkin on the power play with 8:01 left in the second period, less than three minutes after Rakell had tied the score.

Pittsburgh, outshot 10-0 in the third, smothered two Rangers power plays late in the period to preserve the win.

Trocheck opened the scoring at 8:31 of the first, beating Nedeljkovic for this 17th goal.

Lizotte tied it at 2:25 of the second with his ninth.

Fox put New York ahead 2-1 with his fourth at 3:39 before Rakell knotted the score at 9:07 of the middle period with his team-leading 25th.

Takeaways

Penguins: Pittsburgh improved to 10-14-5 on the road.

Rangers: New York is now 14-12-2 at home after going 30-11-0 at Madison Square Garden last season.

Key moment

Rakell’s tying goal midway through the second period energized the Penguins who did not allow a goal by the Rangers the rest of the way.

Key stats

Shesterkin fell to 18-19-2. New York’s starting goalie was 36-17-2 last season.

Up Next

Penguins visit Philadelphia on Saturday, and Rangers play at Columbus.

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AP NHL: https://www.apnews.com/hub/NHL