Mike Sullivan Addresses Media After Penguins' Loss to the Rangers

So, after that 6-3 win against San Jose, the Pittsburgh Penguins were feeling pretty good. Then, St. Patrick's Day weekend rolled around, and it seemed like the luck of the Irish wasn't with them. The Penguins took a tough hit, falling 7-4 to the first place New York Rangers at PPG Paints Arena.

And with the Detroit Red Wings defeating the Buffalo Sabres 4–1, and the New York Islanders notching a point in their 4-3 loss to the Ottawa Senators, the playoff picture got a bit bleaker for the Penguins, leaving them seven points shy. It adds serious urgency to their next game against Detroit on Sunday.

Mike Sullivan Addresses Media After Penguins' Loss to the Rangers

Drew O'Connor summed it up pretty well, saying,




Head coach Mike Sullivan made a move, bringing in backup goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic to replace Tristan Jarry after Blueshirts defenseman K'Andre Miller scored on a shot from the point off a goalie giveaway to make it 6-3 early in the third period. When asked about it, Sullivan said:




Now, the consensus from the coach and players? The game turned on a couple of Rangers power plays in the second period. Lars Eller put it simply:




That's true as ,there were some highlights. John Ludvig and Bryan Rust got on the board, and Eller evened the score at three in the second period with a beauty of a power play goal. Unfortunately, penalty kill was overmatched by New York's potent man-advantage. Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, who had two goals and five points were on fire, and the Penguins just couldn't keep up, trailing 5-3 after two periods of play.

Although, they outshot the Rangers 16-7 in the third, they couldn't solve Jonathan Quick enough to get themselves back into the contest. Quick registered his second win of the season in the Burgh, recording a shutout in an 1-0 win on November 22nd. Overall, as Sullivan put it,


It was a tough loss, but there's always another game to bounce back!