Nashty: Rick Nash follows up his own shot beating Marc-Andre Fleury for his team-leading 18th in the Rangers 4-3 overtime win over the Pens.
AP Photo by Kathy Kmonicek/Getty Images

It was a better birthday than last year. I can thank Kevin Klein. Our best defenseman continued his amazing season by scoring his second overtime winner of the season to give the Rangers a much needed 4-3 win over the Penguins. Klein scored at 3:45 of OT adding to a career high with his sixth goal. He’d never scored more than four. Where would they be without him? Glen Sather looks like a genius for stealing him for Michael Del Zotto. Simply amazing.

If not for Klein, this team would be in much worse shape. The stay at home defenseman has been money. In the postgame interview with MSG’s John Giannone, he emphasized that offense isn’t his main responsibility. With Marc Staal continuing to struggle and Ryan McDonagh not himself, Klein has stepped up. On a nice night where they honored special team member Chris Falzone and terrific anthem singer Lucia Fenaro, Klein made sure his team won after blowing another lead. He also was kind enough to present Falzone with the Broadway Hat. Listening to Klein, it’s easy to like him. He’s very low key and gets it. Maybe that’s why he’s succeeding on Broadway.

“He has the best shot on the team, no question..he always gets it on net,” winning goalie Henrik Lundqvist told reporters after making a key stop prior to Klein’s emotional winner.

“We had to have these 2 points.”

He isn’t kidding. The win allowed the Rangers to snap a two-game losing streak improving to 12-10-4- tying the Capitals for third in the Metropolitan Division. Right now, every point is huge. Especially with the team struggling. After blowing a two-goal lead Saturday to Detroit in 61 seconds, they managed to blow a 3-1 lead in only 24 seconds late in the third period.

They had played a good game till that point. The Rangers recovered from a Sidney Crosby set up of a Nick Spaling goal in the first by getting the next three. That included a nice put away for J.T. Miller off a Martin St. Louis feed and then another Nashty finish from Rick Nash for his team-high 18th. Nash’s tally was a thing of beauty. Mats Zuccarello made a perfect outlet sending him in on Marc-Andre Fleury, who got the first attempt but Nash followed it up to fire up MSG. Derick Brassard got the other assist.

With a sharper Lundqvist making the lead stand up despite a strong push by the Pens in the third, it looked like they had it once Kevin Hayes scored to increase the margin to 3-1 with 7:02 remaining. At that critical point, the Pens had put on all kinds of pressure but were unable to beat Lundqvist. What made the play so impressive was it came at the end of his shift. He made a great defensive play in the neutral zone to break up a Pens rush and then smoothly carried the puck with a defenseman on him and deked Fleury tucking a backhand in for his 4th unassisted.

But before we could breathe, the defense forgot to take Evgeni Malkin in front on a Brent Sutter feed from behind the net. It was an easy finish for Malkin, who was far and away the Pens’ best player. Blake Comeau continued to pile up points recording a secondary assist. It must be fun getting to play with such a great player. Malkin’s line was dangerous all night.

On the next shift, disaster struck. The Pens took full advantage of Marc Staal falling down allowing Steve Downie to beat Lundqvist from the slot. Spaling set it up perfectly. The bizarre sequence had the Pens fans who made the trip cheering while the rest of the building went silent. It really looked like it was over after Hayes’ tally. But this Ranger team is so fragile. Simply put, they can’t protect leads. All you had to do was look how conservative they were in the third. They were outshot 13-4. The defensive breakdowns are alarming. Vigneault said they have to battle through it. They have to clean it up.

At least tonight, they found a way to win. Whatever it is about the Pens, they bring out our best. The Rangers improved to 2-0-1 in the season series taking 5 of 6 points. Not bad. Credit the Pens for battling back without some key players. They are one of the league’s best teams for a reason.

Prior to Klein’s heroics, Lundqvist denied a Pen on a wrap around pushing the puck wide. It was a bit scary how easily they were pinned in. Eventually, Dominic Moore made a good defensive play and recovered a loose puck in the Pens zone getting it to McDonagh. McDonagh, who was beaten badly on Spaling’s goal- made a perfect backhand saucer pass to an open Klein who fired past Fleury through traffic.

It was nice to get a birthday win. A much happier result than last year’s stinker. I’m glad they stuck with it and got the desired result. It would’ve been a shame to blow another crucial point against a bitter rival. They’ll take it and try to build on it at Vancouver and Edmonton this weekend. Then Calgary next Tuesday. The next four games are on the road and will be a good test for this group. With much of the second half away from MSG, it’s a chance for them to come together. Hopefully, tonight helped.

Notes: Pens outshot NYR 35-29 incl. 13-4 in 3rd outscoring NYR 2-1 to earn point. … Lundqvist made 32 saves while Fleury turned aside 25 of 29. … NYR continue to struggle on the power play going 0-for-4 including a wasted opportunity with Crosby off after complaining. Pens only had 1 power play misfiring. … NYR have only been shorthanded three times the last two games. … Giveaways: Pens-5 NYR-17 … Faceoffs went in favor of the Pens who edged the Blueshirts 29-28. Crosby went 10-and-9 while Marcel Goc was 8-and-7 with Sutter 9-and-9. Brassard led the Rangers going 9-and-7 followed by Moore (7-and-4) while Derek Stepan went 8-for-20.

BONY 3 Stars:

3rd Star-Evgeni Malkin, Pens (goal-15th of season, 5 SOG in 22:37)

2nd Star-Rick Nash, NYR (team-leading 18th, 5 SOG in 7 attempts, +1 in 19:40-dangerous throughout)

1st Star-Kevin Klein, NYR (OT winner-6th with 1:15 left, 2 SOG in 4 attempts, 2 hits, +1 in 18:55-Kleinsome)