Bryan Rust appeared to extend the lead on the power play at 3:00, taking a cross-ice pass from Evgeni Malkin for a snap shot in the left face-off circle, but it was disallowed after Mantha was ruled to have interfered with Shesterkin following a coach’s challenge by the Rangers.
Rust later hit the right post with another snap shot on a rush at 13:23.
The Penguins were outshooting the Rangers 12-2 after Shea made it 2-0 at 1:59 of the second period. He spun off Noah Laba at the point for a wrist shot that went in off New York defenseman Scott Morrow.
“We (didn’t) play bad, we played OK, but we just need to play a little bit simpler sometimes,” Malkin said. “We try to play, like, beautiful sometimes. … When we lead, like, 2-0, we start to play a little bit cute.”
Zibanejad cut it to 2-1 at 10:00 with a power-play goal, a one-timer from the slot set up by Trocheck. It was Zibanejad’s team-leading 24th goal and 12th on the power play.
“They got buzzing after they scored,” Skinner said. “There’s a momentum shift there. And then, it just kind of stayed that way for a little while.”
