Penguins blow lead, fall in OT
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Matt Cooke mixes it up with Brian Boyle, right, and Marc Staal in the third period.
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One of the keys to winning this game, the Penguins had been told, was to generate 40 shots on New York Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist.
Turned out to be a pretty good plan, because they ended up with 39.
And lost, as Ryan Callahan scored on a two-on-one break at 3:38 of overtime to give the New York Rangers a 3-2 victory against the Penguins at Consol Energy Center.
Callahan steered a Brandon Dubinsky pass behind goalie Marc-Andre Fleury from the edge of the crease to cap a two-on-one break created when Penguins defenseman Zbynek Michalek fell down in the neutral zone.
"We played strong defensively all game," Fleury said. "It was just a bad break. They got a two-on-one.
"It's a tough way to lose a game."
It had seemed likely for most of the game that the Penguins (9-8-2) would lose, primarily because Lundqvist was unbeatable for the first 57-plus minutes.
Lundqvist rejected the first 36 shots the Penguins threw at him, including one when Mark Letestu got behind the New York defense and another when Chris Kunitz was at the front lip of the crease.
"We got a lot of shots and had opportunities," Penguins coach Dan Bylsma said.
Very few of either, it should be noted, came on power plays.
The Penguins got the only six that were awarded and failed to take advantage of any of them.
Former Penguin Erik Christensen put New York in front, 1-0, at 10:16 of the second period when his turning shot from the inner edge of the right circle hit the skate of defenseman Deryk Engelland and got past Fleury.
The Penguins had an opportunity to pull even after Rangers defenseman Marc Staal received a double-minor for high-sticking Pascal Dupuis at 17:15, but managed only one shot on goal in those four minutes.
Lundqvist appeared to be closing in on his third shutout in his past six games until Kunitz -- who had been denied from point-blank range about two minutes earlier -- punched in an Evgeni Malkin rebound at 17:29 of the third for his fifth of the season.
First Published November 16, 2010 12:00 am
