Penguins 1 - Rangers 2: Losing a Squeaker

Sidney Crosby and the boys were obviously tired in the second of back-to-back games as they were outshot 42-22 in a 2-1 loss to the Rangers.

Thanks to the brilliant goaltending of Jocelyn Thibault, the Penguins looked like they could bring this game into OT.

Unfortunately, Jaromir Jagr banked in a lucky shot off of the stick of Rob Scuderi that just squeaked by Thibault with 33 seconds left in the game :(

Sidney was practically shut down and finished -2 with 0 points in 21:37 of ice time. Apart from a couple of spurts, his effort overall was disappointing and the Penguins failed to sustain any attack against a desperate Rangers club.

From Yahoo! Sports:

Jaromir Jagr looked for teammate Michael Nylander -- and luckily found defenseman Rob Scuderi.

Jagr snapped his longest scoring drought of the season Monday night when his pass for Nylander clipped off Scuderi's stick and slipped into the net with 33.8 seconds left in the New York Rangers' 2-1 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

"I am not 24 chasing any records anymore," said the 35-year-old Jagr, who went eight games without scoring for the second time this season. "My goal is to make the playoffs. Right now it doesn't matter as long as we win."

New York moved past idle Carolina into seventh place in the Eastern Conference, two nights after getting into playoff position. The Rangers, who nearly put up back-to-back shutouts for the first time since March 2003, trail sixth-place Tampa Bay by one point with nine games left.

Jagr swung around Alain Nasreddine and flipped the puck toward the net. The drive hit Scuderi and slipped underneath Jocelyn Thibault, who stopped 40 of New York's previous 41 shots. The puck disappeared, but it was revealed over the line when Thibault moved his legs.

"I thought it was in but I wasn't 100 percent sure," said Jagr, who reached 25 goals for the 16th straight season.

The goal was awarded after a video review that lasted a few minutes. Thibault hung his head in the crease and again on the bench after being pulled for an extra skater. He didn't face another shot, but Jagr's goal was enough to snap Pittsburgh's winning streak at five and improve the Rangers' run to 7-1-3.

"I was just trying to squeeze my pads," Thibault said. "I didn't know where it was. For a second I kind of had it. You couldn't see the puck until I split my pads. Knowing that, I would've moved my pads the other way."

The Penguins could've tied New Jersey atop the Atlantic Division with a win, but remained two points back. Thibault sparkled in place of No. 1 goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, who backstopped a 4-3 shootout victory over Ottawa at home Sunday night.

Pittsburgh is 7-1-1 in its last nine and went 4-1 during a stretch of five games in seven days.

"If you look at the big picture, you have to be satisfied," coach Michel Therrien said. "What makes it tough is that we were about 30 seconds from picking up at least another point."

"We got a bad bounce, no doubt," Penguins forward Sidney Crosby said. "We've had our breaks against them throughout the year. This one went against us."

Penguins 3 - Rangers 2(OT): 1 Goal = 100!

A goal! A goal!!!

At long last...Sidney Crosby gets a goal, point #100, and the Penguins get a crucial win.

Thanks to Sidney finally scoring an actual in-game goal, the Penguins beat the Gotham Ranger 3-2, and put Sidney over the century mark for the second time.

On the night, El Sid finished with 1 goal on 7(!) shots in 22:02 of ice time. One thing that's been noticable during this streak is how many shots on goal he's been getting per game. At least he's trying to shoot his way out of a slump.

Amazingly, Crosby wasn't even around when the Rangers scored, thanks to an 'equipment malfunction'

From Yahoo! Sports:

Sidney Crosby scored a milestone game-tying goal but was relegated to hearing the crowd roar for the game winner from the locker room.

Colby Armstrong scored 1:19 into overtime and the Pittsburgh Penguins came back from a two-goal, third-period deficit to beat the New York Rangers 3-2 on Saturday.
Crosby had tied the game at 2 for his 100th point of the season with 13:04 to play, becoming the youngest player in NHL history with two 100-point seasons. But equipment problems sent him to the locker room after regulation.

"It sucks," Crosby said of having to miss overtime. "I have a lot of trust in the guys, but I want to be out there, especially in overtime ... and I'm just sitting there. It's hard just watching."

Armstrong made it a pleasant watch, however, by scoring his third overtime goal this season, tying a team record. Evgeni Malkin added a goal and an assist for Pittsburgh, which has come-from-behind in each of its past five victories.

Karel Rachunek and Matt Cullen scored for the Rangers, who have earned at least a point in each of their past six games.

"We came back, and (the players) showed a lot of character again," said Penguins assistant coach Andre Savard, who was running the team because Michel Therrien was attending his father's funeral. "They battled hard in the third period and overtime, and we did get the win. Obviously, we don't make it easy."

The win came in part because Maxime Talbot made a good play to keep the puck in the zone and got the puck to Armstrong, who took a wrist shot from the right boards that deflected off Rangers defenseman Marek Malik's stick and squeezed between goalie Henrik Lundqvist and the near post.

"Mark tried to make the right play and cut off the pass," Lundqvist said. "It's just unfortunate that it goes in the net. But it was not there where we made the mistake. We have to clear the puck before that."

Crosby, who had just missed making it back onto the ice for the start of the extra period, downplayed the significance of his 100th point. He came into the game with only two points in his past six games and two goals in his past 19 but still has a comfortable lead in the league scoring race.

"It's never something I think about," Crosby said of 100 points. "It's nice, for sure, but there's a lot of games left -- important ones -- and that's where my mind has been."

Penguins 4 - Rangers 3 (SO): Sid's the Shootout Star!

Go figure...Sidney can't score a goal in a real game these days, but suddenly's he found the touch in the shootout.

Sidney went pointless with 4 shots on goal in 22:30 of ice time. Poor Sid continues to be snakebit, but is still holding onto the NHL's scoring lead as we enter the final stretch.

Recap from Yahoo! Sports:

The New York Rangers' potent power play is suddenly producing goals for and against the desperate team.

Pittsburgh erased a two-goal deficit with back-to-back short-handed goals by NHL leader Jordan Staal and Colby Armstrong, and forced overtime with defenseman Sergei Gonchar's goal with six minutes left in regulation.

That set the stage for Sidney Crosby to give the Penguins a 4-3 shootout victory over the Rangers on Thursday night.

"We got some big plays, especially in the penalty kills," Crosby said of the Penguins, who killed three of four power plays and netted two goals of their own.

Crosby won it with just his second shootout goal in 10 tries. The 19-year-old phenom was the last of six shooters and he squeezed a drive between Henrik Lundqvist's pads.

Lundqvist was sharp for the first two periods, making 18 saves after a shutout in his last outing. But he was touched for three goals on 13 shots in the final frame of regulation in his 19th consecutive start.

Marc-Andre Fleury made 32 saves in his second straight strong outing following a benching. He then turned aside Michael Nylander, Jaromir Jagr and Petr Prucha in the shootout. Nylander and Jagr had both scored in regulation for the Rangers, 2-3-2 in their past seven, as they try to stay in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

Jagr nearly scored in the shootout, but fell to 0-for-4 this season when Fleury stopped him with his pads. The Rangers captain was roundly criticized for declining to take part in the tiebreaker against New Jersey on Feb. 22 when New York lost.

With injuries to Brendan Shanahan and Martin Straka, Jagr needed to be in the Rangers' first three shooters

"I would do anything for this team to win," Jagr said. "I didn't feel very comfortable doing that ... I knew other guys were better than me. Now I had no choice to go. I wanted to go. I knew I was going to go."

Blair Betts scored his first power-play goal since Oct. 14, 2003, to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead, but Lundqvist -- who made 30 saves -- couldn't protect it.

He made a key error when he left the crease to block a dump-in by Pittsburgh. Armstrong got to the loose puck and banked it off Lundqvist.

"Mine was just lucky," Armstrong said.