NEW YORK CITY (93.7 The Fan) – Once again the Pens had a lead, and for the third straight game couldn’t hold it as the Rangers win the last three of the series beating the Pens 4-3 in overtime for a 4-3 series victory.
“Because two good teams are competing,” said a stern Mike Sullivan about why they couldn’t hold leads. “Sometimes we had leads, sometimes they had leads. They had a lead in Game 1 and we beat them in overtime. They had a lead tonight and we ended up with a lead in the third period. It’s hockey.”
“It’s disappointing we were right there,” said Pens forward Jake Guentzel. “We put ourselves in a good spot being up 3-1. Just disappointing to think about we had a lead in each game and kinda gave that away. Just an amazing group, we believed the whole time. It just didn’t go our way.”
“The only thing we couldn’t do was put them away when we had leads,” said Pens Captain Sidney Crosby. “Whether that was defending or getting that next one. That ended up being a big difference in the series.”
Sunday night the Pens trailed in the first period to come back and take a lead and went into the third period up 3-2 and held onto that for the first 14:15 of the period. Then came a call the Pens feel changed it all.
Helmet Rule
Pens up late in the third when Rangers forward Alexis Lafreniere lifted the helmet off of Pens defenseman Marcus Pettersson behind the net. The rule is a player must immediately leave the ice once he loses his helmet. As Pettersson scrambled to go to the bench it created some confusion for the Pens, the Rangers would take advantage getting the puck to Mika Zibanejad alone in front of the net who beat a deep Tristan Jarry to tie the game.
“I think it stinks,” Sullivan said of the rule. “He has to come off. His helmet got pulled off intentionally, but that’s the rule.”
“It’s a rule made by the NHL that could be changed,” said Pens goalie Tristan Jarry. “I don’t think there are many injuries that happen when players play without helmets. It’s something that cost us. He loses his helmet, he comes back to the net and plays the guy out front. I think that’s a nothing play.”
“I thought we were playing good,” Guentzel said of the third period. “We didn’t give him much. It was kind of a fluky play with the helmet coming off. He made a good shot.”
“We didn’t get that next one tonight that probably was the difference,” Crosby said. “I think when we had the leads we still played the right way. Tonight I think was an example of one game anything can happen. A terrible rule probably ended up being the difference in the game.”
New York only had seven shots in the third period and the Pens outshot them by 15 for the game.
“Never once did I feel like we were under siege or we were in trouble or on our heels,” Sullivan said. “It was none of the above. I thought we had control of the third period. They only had a couple of scoring chances. They scored on one of them.”
Special teams
The game-winner came on a power play in overtime after a holding penalty on Brock McGinn. It was the fifth New York power play goal of the series along with a pair of short-handed goals. Special teams was a huge factor, although Sullivan thought his PP and PK were ‘really good’ Sunday.
“Usually when you score two power play goals (Danton Heinen, Guentzel) and you get a short-handed goal (Evan Rodrigues) on top of it,” Sullivan said. “More often than not you win, it wasn’t the case tonight. Give the Rangers credit, congratulations to them. They are a heck of a hockey team.”
Tristan Jarry Returned
For the first time since April 14 when he broke his foot against the Islanders, Tristan Jarry started for the Pens. With nothing other than work in optional practices, Jarry put back in there for Game 7.
“He’s our number one goalie and when he was deemed ready to play, we were going to put him in the net because he gives us the best chance to win,” Sullivan said. “I thought he had a hell of a game.”
Asked if he had to compensate for his injury while playing, Jarry took a long pause.
“I was able to play.”
Along with Jarry and Crosby returning, so did veteran Rickard Rakell. The forward suffered an upper-body injury after a hard hit in Game 1. Rakell played on a quiet second line with Evgeni Malkin and Kasperi Kapenen. Rakell had four of the six shots from that line.