PITTSBURGH (AP) — Kris Letang knows the Pittsburgh Penguins have the NHL’s oldest team. The 35-year-old defenseman is one of the reasons why.
The Penguins have never missed the playoffs during Letang’s 17-year career. They know what it takes to get there, even if this time around it may have taken a little longer than usual for that postseason push to begin.
It’s well underway now, and Letang is right in the middle of it.
Letang’s blast from the point 1:38 into overtime lifted Pittsburgh to a 3-2 victory over the New York Rangers on Sunday, strengthening his team’s grasp on the first wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference.
Not bad for a team that looked lost after getting blown out at home by Edmonton on Feb. 23. The Penguins are 7-1-1 since.
“I think if you look at our age average, a lot of guys have the experience and they know what to do to turn it on and make sure we get in the postseason and we start getting confident,” Letang said after his third overtime winner of the season. “Everybody has a role and they have to do it the best they can and I think that’s what we’re doing right now.”
Jason Zucker scored for the ninth time in eight games for Pittsburgh and Rickard Rakell added his 23rd. Tristan Jarry made 27 saves as the Penguins improved to 3-0-1 during a five-game homestand.
“I think we’re just playing more of a team game, getting (forward Mikael Granlund and defenseman Dmitry Kulikov at the trade deadline) really sparked our team and it showed us and the organization that we want to win,” Jarry said. “Every game we’re trying to win and every night we’re trying to get two more points.”
Barclay Goodrow picked up his 11th goal of the season for New York and Chris Kreider’s goal midway through the third period tied it. Jaroslav Halak made 32 saves for the Rangers, including a glove save on Alex Nylander to snuff out a 2-on-1 break with less than a minute to go in regulation.
New York is 4-5-2 over its last 11 games to fall off the pace a bit behind Carolina and New Jersey in the race for the Metropolitan Division title.
“We haven’t played well, we admit to that, but we’re still winning hockey…