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Trading places Pens move ahead of Rangers in standings with 3-1 win
Posted: Sunday March 12, 2000 10:35 AM
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The New York Rangers battled jet lag and the Pittsburgh Penguins and didn't beat either. German Titov, Rob Brown and Robert Dome scored as the Penguins followed consecutive shutout losses by beating the road-weary Rangers 3-1. "We didn't have it tonight," Rangers forward Petr Nedved said. "I don't know if it was the energy or what but we didn't have it." Rangers coach John Muckler said the schedule maker had as much to do with Saturday's loss as anyone on the ice. New York played Wednesday at Anaheim and Thursday at Los Angeles before traveling to Pittsburgh on Friday. "This was a tough trip," Muckler said. "I mean, who the hell would ever think you were going to play on the West Coast, travel all day long to get to Pittsburgh and play the next day? Not too many teams are asked to do that." Then again, the Penguins were playing without their top two scorers. Jaromir Jagr, who leads the NHL with 85 points, is out following surgery on his thigh and Robert Lang missed the game after a high stick on Wednesday knocked out five teeth. Jagr did make a contribution, giving a pregame speech to the team that has been failing in his absence. "He got us going," defenseman Darius Kasparaitis said. Titov did the same thing on the ice, scoring Pittsburgh's first goal in three games. The Penguins lost 3-0 to Montreal and 7-0 to Ottawa in 48 hours, their first back-to-back shutout losses since 1980. Pittsburgh, with 70 points, moved a point ahead of the Rangers into eighth place in the race for the final Eastern Conference playoff spot. The Rangers lost three of four on the trip that started Monday. The Penguins won for the second time in 10 games (2-6-2). Pittsburgh had gone 151:42 without scoring when Titov scored at 5:36 of the first period. Alexei Kovalev got around forward Michael York to set up Titov's 17th. Brown made it 2-0 at 2:18 of the second, just after the Penguins failed on five consecutive minutes of power-play time. Mike Richter stopped Tyler Wright's shot but left the rebound in front of the net. Brown skated out of the corner and backhanded the puck over Richter to end a 13-game goal drought. There was nothing spectacular about the goal, but that's what coach Herb Brooks has been preaching. He's after the Penguins to stop worrying about making outstanding plays. "We have to continue to throw the puck at the net," Brown said. "If we score some ugly goals, the pretty ones will come." New York scored at the end of a four-minute power play at 19:38 of the second period. Newly acquired Rob DiMaio's rebound came to Valeri Kamensky, who had the left side of the net open. Dome restored Pittsburgh's two-goal lead at 9:53 of the third when Jan Hrdina forced a turnover. Pat Falloon centered to Dome, who directed the puck past in. With 3:47 left, Rangers defenseman Brian Leetch cut up the middle and beat Jean-Sebastien Aubin on a breakaway but Leetch's shot went off the crossbar and a goal post without going in. New York's Tim Taylor was given a major and a game misconduct for spearing defenseman Darius Kasparaitis after the players collided behind the net at 16:56 of the first. "I think he got frustrated," Kasparaitis said. "He didn't hurt me at all."
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