PITTSBURGH _ A little puck luck went a long way for the Rangers Tuesday night.
They got a go-ahead goal at 11:12 of the third when Pavel Buchnevich's centering pass deflected off Kris Letang's stick and in the Penguins' net, and the Rangers held on for a 4-3 win without Henrik Lundqvist, scratched due to the flu.
That thrust Ondrej Pavelec in for his first start since Oct. 28 in Montreal. The backup made 40 saves for his second win in seven appearances. The Rangers (15-10-2) have won 12 of their last 15.
A power-play goal by Patric Hornqvist at 3:35 of the third tied the game at 3 apiece. Hornqvist got behind Marc Staal and Ryan McDonagh for a breakaway and ripped one by Pavelec.
Mats Zuccarello was put through on goal by J.T. Miller and put the Rangers ahead 3-2 with 2:40 left in the second, a shot initially stopped by Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry before the puck trickled through and Jarry's right leg directed the puck in.
The Penguins registered 23 shots in the second period after putting only four on net in the first, yet the Rangers still came out of the second with a lead after the teams were tied at 1 through 20 minutes. Phil Kessel gave Pittsburgh the lead at 7:11 of the second, jumping up into the slot uncovered to bury a feed from Jake Guentzel.
Less than five minutes later, Jesper Fast began and ended a transition play which tied the game. Fast's stick-lift on Evgeni Malkin helped Brady Skjei take possession in the defensive zone. Fast then started a rush with a pass to Paul Carey, who made a perfect cross-ice pass to Skjei on a four-on-two. Skjei was denied by Jarry at the net before Fast put in the rebound.
Conor Sheary's goal at 15:13 gave the Penguins a brief 1-0 lead in the first before Boo Nieves' first career NHL goal brought the Blueshirts level.
Pavelec made two relief appearances between starts. He likely would've ended his long starting layoff this weekend when the Rangers have their first back-to-back since mid-October, but it ended sooner than expected.
"Hank when we got here (Monday) night wasn't feeling well," Alain Vigneault said before the game. "Parties with kids on the weekend, so that'll do it to you. (Monday) morning we called up Alexandar. Hank is at the hotel right now and hopefully he'll feel better (Tuesday.)"
The Rangers called up Alexandar Georgiev from AHL Hartford to serve as the No. 2 for Tuesday's game.
Tuesday marked just Pavelec's fourth start in what was the Rangers' 27th game of the season. Pavelec's previous appearance came one week earlier at home against Florida, when he stopped 19 of 21 shots after Lundqvist was pulled with 3:13 remaining in the first period. During his 14-start streak, Lundqvist had a 2.36 goals against average and .927 save percentage.
