Regular season ends with loss for Penguins

Associated Press

NEW YORK

With little at stake in the regular-season finale, the Rangers and Penguins just wanted to get through it unscathed.

Now both teams can focus on the playoffs as they chase the Stanley Cup.

Jimmy Vesey scored a tiebreaking goal in the third period and the Rangers beat the Penguins 3-2 Sunday night.

Ryan McDonagh had a goal and an assist, Derek Stepan had a goal and Mika Zibanejad added two assists for the Rangers, who will match up against the Atlantic Division champion Montreal Canadiens in the postseason.

“Both teams are trying to do the same thing,” Rangers coach Alain Vigneault said. “We’re trying to get through this game as healthy as we can. We’re able to do that and win the game at the same time.”

Nick Bonino and Carter Rowney scored for the Penguins, who will face the Metropolitan Division rival Columbus Blue Jackets in the first round as they look to defend their Stanley Cup championship.

“Obviously we’re happy with the regular season. We put ourselves in a good spot,” Penguins defenseman Brian Dumoulin said.

“Right now we’re focusing, we’re all excited. There’s a lot of playoff experience in this room. We know what it takes and we’re excited.”

With the game tied at 2, Vesey scored his 16th of the season on a backhand at 7:23 of the third period to help the Rangers end the regular season with a victory.

Both teams were locked into their playoff positions entering the game. Superstars Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin were among the dozen players who missed the game for the Penguins and Tristan Jarry made his NHL debut in net. Jarry finished with 22 saves.

“I thought he looked really good in there. He has a calm demeanor about him,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said of Jarry.

“He looked very composed. Made some big saves for us. They had a couple of breakaways. He had some really nice saves. He was tracking the puck well. His rebound control was good. I thought he had a really solid game.”

Magnus Hellberg, who was recalled from the American Hockey League earlier in the day, started in goal for the Rangers and had 22 saves in his first NHL win.

“I am a little overwhelmed right now. Of course I am very happy,” Hellberg said. “This is something I’ve been fighting for for five years, so to be able to get this opportunity in the last game of the season is very big for me. Obviously, the guys played great in front of me.”

Henrik Lundqvist was given the day off and backup Antti Raanta missed the game with an injury. Forwards Chris Kreider, Kevin Hayes and Jesper Fast also sat out for New York.