 its fourth straight loss. Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh turned the puck over in overtime and Kessel set up Malkin for the game-winning goal. Just before that, the Rangers iced the puck, leading to a faceoff in their zone. Michael Grabner put New York ahead 4-3 when he and David Desharnais completed a nifty give-and-go at the 8-minute mark of the third period. Desharnais, Pavel Buchnevich and J. T. Miller scored in a span of 2:30 as the Rangers got three straight goals early in the second to take a 3-2 lead. Penguins goalie Matt Murray and counterpart Henrik Lundqvist each made 28 saves in the first of four meetings this season between the division rivals. Crosby scored with 56 seconds left in the third period when he put a puck between Lundqvist's pads. It was Crosby's fifth consecutive game at Madison Square Garden with a goal. Kessel scored on the game's first shot just 43 seconds in. Hagelin made it 2-0 when his wrist shot sailed over Lundqvist's glove. Olli Maata extended his point streak to six games (one goal, five assists) with an assist on the second goal. In the second period, Desharnais snapped a shot past Murray to cut the margin in half. It was Desharnais' first goal for the Rangers since signing a one-year contract this summer. Shortly after that, Crosby took a double-minor for high-sticking Jimmy Vesey. The Rangers took full advantage of the opportunity as they scored on both chances. Buchnevich got his first of the season and then a minute later, Miller launched a snap shot past Murray to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. Miller also had two assists in his first three-point game of the season. Hornqvist tied it late in the second period on the power play with Rangers forward Chris Kreider in the box. Kreider was penalized for cross-checking, which abruptly ended a two-man advantage for New York. Malkin went to the dressing room with 14:17 remaining in the third period. Shortly before that, he scrapped with Rangers defenseman Kevin Shattenkirk. They were given matching two-minute roughing penalties. NOTES: Murray surpassed Penguins general manager Jim Rutherford for sole possession of 10th place on the team's career wins list with 45. ... The Rangers scratched forward Paul Carey, D Nick Holden and D Steven Kampfer. ... The Penguins scratched forwards Josh Archibald and Scott Wilson. ... Before the game, Pittsburgh placed Matt Hunwick on injured reserve with an unspecified injury. D Ian Cole returned to the lineup after missing the previous three games with a facial injury. ... The Penguins also reassigned D Chris Summers to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton of the American Hockey League. UP NEXTPenguins: Visit the Florida Panthers on Friday. Rangers: Host the New York Islanders on Thursday.---For more NHL coverage: https://apnews.com/tag/NHLhockey)
Time: 7:00 PM EDT Venue: Madison Square Garden, New York, N. Y., 10001 NEW YORK -- The New York Rangers are sitting in last place in the Eastern Conference at 1-5-0, their worst start since 1980. They are desperate for a victory, and the good news is their next game is on home ice Tuesday night. The bad news is their opponent is the two-time defending champion Pittsburgh Penguins, who have won three of four and have owned the Rangers in recent years. The Penguins captured 10 of their past 14 meetings with New York, including a five-game win in the first round of the 2016 playoffs." I've never had a start like this in my career, so it's tough mentally for sure," Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh said to the New York Daily News. "By no means is this group going to quit, I know that for a fact. And I know that we will keep working here and trust our system and we'll start playing the way we need to with a little more edge, a little bit more desperation." Hopefully this is rock bottom here early on and a real gut-check time, and understanding what's expected of us individually and as a group." The Penguins (3-2-1) dropped their first two games before turning it around, but coach Mike Sullivan sees room for improvement in an area where the team excelled last season -- getting pucks on net. After finishing first in that category last season, the Penguins are just 10th in the early going." We pass up opportunities to put the puck on the net when we're in pretty good areas because we're looking for that next play, and sometimes, or a lot of times, that next play never materializes," Sullivan said. The problem is asking players such as Sidney Crosby, Evgeni Malkin and Phil Kessel to abandon their creative natures to shoot more." They're always looking to make that play to try and set up a goal, and that's part of what makes them elite," Sullivan said. "There's always that delicate balance, and as a coaching staff, we don't want to get in the way of their instincts. We certainly don't want to force them to shoot all the time, because that's what separates our guys from others." Malkin and Kessel, who have been on a line together this season, have combined for just two goals in six games, and just one goal at even strength. Malkin believes that Sullivan has a point about being a little less fancy and a little more direct." We try to play beautiful every time," Malkin said to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. "It's not working. We need to change our game and play a little bit straight-line to the net." Me and Phil, we look to each other too much. When he plays with (the) puck, he stops in the offensive zone and looks to me. Same with me. Sometimes, we need to just go to net. Simple play, rebound, wait for (the) puck around the net and go to the net more." The Rangers simply want to put together a solid 60-minute effort. In their 3-2 loss to the New Jersey Devils on Saturday night, the Rangers dominated the first period only to fade over the final 40 minutes. A performance like that against the Penguins likely would result in a bad start getting even worse." The problem right now is we can't put a full 60 minutes together," Rangers forward Rick Nash said to the New York Post. "It's surprising we couldn't keep it going." It's easy to point fingers right now and get on top of each other, but good teams get through things like this and come out even better."
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