Rangers 5, Penguins 3

So what happened?

The Pens didn't play a bad game today.

At even strength they were pretty solid (other than one letdown that allowed Boyle to be all alone in front of Fleury for a deflection goal).

The PK certainly let them down. I'm going to attribute that not only to the absence of Matt Cooke, but also to the lack of depth at the forward spot. Guys that normally don't get big mintues (Talbot, Dupuis) are suddenly being asked to do more than they're used to. I think the overall effort level is down because they're more tired than they're used to.

Having said that, any time you take a two goal lead and allow five unanswered goals, something isn't working.

Hopefully they can get it figured out, because things are about to get really difficult schedule-wise.

Who scored?

Engelland (3), Johnson (1), Sterling (2)

The Good?

• More contributions from the young guys. I like what I'm seeing from the prospects like Johnson and Vitale.
• You have to give the Rangers credit. They got to the front of the net, and that earned them two deflection goals. Those are more luck than anything, but luck is when preparation meets opportunity. The Rangers took advantage of that luck.

The Bad?

• Special teams. The PK allowed three and is suddenly extremely leaky. The power play scored one, but when they had four minutes straight in the third, they couldn't get one. That's when they needed it most.

The Ugly?

• Fleury needs to find a way to stop some of those goals. Prospal's goal especially was on a pass that Flower should have poke-checked out of the way.

Any Surprises?

• Eight goals scored between these two teams is a big surprise.

What's their record now? Any important move in the standings?

The Pens are now 35-19-4. They've lost two in a row and four of their past five games.

Who's next?

The Avalanche are coming to Consol on Wednesday night.