Crosby scores in OT, Penguins beat Rangers

NEW YORK (AP) — Sidney Crosby scored at 2:27 of overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins beat the New York Rangers 5-4 on Saturday night to stop a two-game skid.

Jason Zucker, Brandon Tanev, Kasperi Kapanen and Jake Guentzel also had goals for Pittsburgh, and Casey DeSmith made 30 saves. Guentzel tied it 4-all midway through the third period, and Pierre-Olivier Joseph had two assists as the Penguins (5-3-1) improved to 3-0 against the Rangers this season.

Brendan Lemieux, Kevin Rooney, Chris Kreider and Artemi Panarin scored for New York (2-4-2), which lost for the fifth time in six games — all of them decided by one goal. Alexandar Georgiev made 33 saves in his fourth start this season.

The Penguins pinned a tired Rangers trio in their own zone for much of the extra session and Crosby took advantage. Pittsburgh's captain fired a shot from the high slot through the legs of Georgiev.

Guentzel evened a back-and-forth game when the 26-year-old winger put home a rebound after Crosby won a faceoff cleanly in the offensive zone.

The Rangers took their first lead at 16:01 of the second period on the power play. Panarin got his fourth goal of the season with a one-timer from the slot. Pavel Buchnevich and Tony DeAngelo assisted on the play.

Rooney sparked a three-goal second for New York with a short-handed tally. Rookie defenseman K’Andre Miller and Rooney executed a give-and-go to perfection on a two-on-none rush. Rooney has 11 career goals, seven while killing a penalty.

Evgeni Malkin helped Pittsburgh regain a one-goal advantage after he intercepted a puck in the defensive zone and sprung Kapanen for a breakaway at 9:42 of the middle frame.

Just 43 seconds after Pittsburgh took a 3-2 lead, Kreider buried a rebound to help New York overcome a one-goal deficit for the third time. Miller and fellow defenseman Jacob Trouba assisted on the equalizer.

Zucker opened the scoring at 7:39 of the first period. Joseph found Zucker darting toward the back post after receiving a cross-ice feed from Kapanen.

Lemieux scored his first of the season to tie it at 1. Phillip Di Giuseppe tossed a puck toward the net and a hard-charging Lemieux guided the rebound past DeSmith.

Tanev gave Pittsburgh a 2-1 lead in the final minute of the first when he redirected Joseph’s shot past Georgiev.

HOME SWEET HOME

The Rangers began a stretch of eight straight games in the New York Metropolitan Area — seven at Madison Square Garden and next Saturday at New Jersey.

CLASS IN SESSION

The average age of a player on the Rangers’ active roster this season is 25.6 years old, the youngest in the NHL.

UP NEXT

The teams meet again Monday night in New York.

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