Goaltending woes cost the Penguins again as they fall to rival Rangers

Matt Vensel, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette on Feb 23, 2025

Published in Hockey

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PITTSBURGH — For the second consecutive day, goaltending was the difference in a Penguins loss.

On Sunday, the Penguins peppered New York Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin at PPG Paints Arena and pulled in front in the third period with two goals from Ryan Shea.

Alas, the Penguins couldn’t hang onto that lead, as rookie goalie Joel Blomqvist let a pair of wrist shots beat him on his blocker side, which has been his Achilles heel.

Adam Fox’s goal with 8:34 to go proved to be the winner as the Penguins lost, 5-3.

It was the third straight loss for Pittsburgh, all against Metropolitan Division foes.

Shea tied up the score, 2-2, with his first goal of the season early in the third period. Improbably, he got another on a similar play 3:34 later. This time his wrist shot from the left point hit Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller in the pants and deflected in.

As the PPG Paints Arena crowd roared, Shea appeared to be chuckling in disbelief.

Unfortunately for the Penguins, their lead lasted only 50 seconds. Jimmy Vesey of the Rangers whipped a shot off the rush over Blomqvist’s blocker.

About seven minutes later, Fox bounced off a Shea check and scored from the slot. It was a dangerous opportunity, but definitely a shot that Blomqvist could have had.

Blomqvist finished the game with just 11 saves. He hasn’t won a game since Nov. 8.

The Penguins were coming off an ugly loss Saturday. Alex Nedeljkovic got pulled as they lost, 8-3, at home to the Washington Capitals. They responded the right way against the Rangers, one of the many teams they are chasing in the wild-card race.

The home team out-shot its visitors, 12-5, in the first period and grabbed a 1-0 lead when Evgeni Malkin, with a defender draped on his back, poked a Cody Glass pass behind his countryman, Shesterkin. It was just the 10th goal of the year for Malkin.

However, the Rangers pulled even late in the first, in the aftermath of a dangerous Matt Rempe hit that knocked Penguins defenseman Matt Grzelcyk out of the game.

Grzelcyk skated into the corner in Pittsburgh territory to play the puck and Rempe barreled into Grzelcyk from behind. He drove Grzelcyk into the glass and Grzelcyk hit his head and went down in a heap. He had to be helped to the dressing room.

Rempe, who in December received an eight-game suspension for boarding another NHL defenseman, was initially assessed a five-minute major. It was downgraded to a minor penalty after a review. The Penguins failed to convert on that power play.

Moments later, Kris Letang admirably tried to get a little bit of revenge by hitting Rempe. But he accidentally tripped the big lug. The Rangers took advantage with Letang in the penalty box. Will Cuylle made it 1-1 with 48 seconds left in the period.

Unfazed, the Penguins kept pushing and completely dominated the second period. They fired the first 17 shots in that period and had a 29-5 edge in total shots at one point. Shesterkin was too good, though, turning aside everything they threw at him.

Then Coraopolis native J.T. Miller put the Rangers in front when he beat Blomqvist with a glove-side shot on a 2-on-1 rush. The Penguins were victimized there by a carom off the glass that led to Pierre-Olivier Joseph getting caught in no-man’s land.

Shea’s two tallies briefly put the Penguins in front. But the Rangers rallied to win, this latest loss pushing the Penguins closer to the brink with 23 games left to play.

Will Borgen made a sprawling save with one minute remaining to seal their fate.

Ice chips

— Bryan Rust missed his second straight game due to illness. He has now sat out the team’s past three games. He sat out their last game before the break due to injury.

— Coach Mike Sullivan made two notable lineup changes after Saturday’s loss. Shea replaced Vincent Desharnais and Michael Bunting was dropped to their third line.

— Entering Sunday’s game, Shea had just one career goal, which came last season.

— Pittsburgh at one point held New York without a shot for 15 minutes, 57 seconds.

— Blomqvist has lost all four of his starts since Pittsburgh recalled him last month.

— Miller got an empty-netter in the final seconds, giving him two goals for the game.

Coming up

Monday is a travel day for the Penguins, who will head to Philadelphia in advance of Tuesday’s game versus the Philadelphia Flyers. The two rivals will then play here on Thursday.

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