Rangers 2, Penguins 1

Some news and notes, numbers and quotes from the Penguins’ 2-1 loss in Game 1 in their first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers Thursday night at Madison Square Garden:

*** The Penguins fell behind 28 seconds into the first period, when New York’s Derick Brassard punched a Rich Nash rebound past goalie Marc-Andre Fleury, and never caught up.

*** Ryan McDonagh’s power-play goal at 16:15 of the first proved to be the game-winner, and came during one of four unanswered penalties the Penguins took during the opening 20 minutes. “They came out and got a quick goal, and then we took some unnecessary penalties that took ourselves deeper,” Penguins defenseman Ben Lovejoy said. “And we were digging ourselves out the rest of the game.”

*** Despite the loss, Fleury had a strong game, finishing with 36 saves. “He’s been doing that all year for us,” center Sidney Crosby said.

*** The Penguins’ first-period penalties limited Crosby to three minutes, 42 seconds of ice time during those 20 minutes. That was the third-lowest total among Penguins forwards.

*** Brassard’s goal came on a play New York works on in practice. “[Nash] didn’t shoot to score there,” Brassard said. “He did that on purpose. I was just driving the net and got the lucky bounce.” Fleury said he intended to steer Nash’s shot into the corner, not in front of his net.

*** Comeau’s goal like was a prototype for how the Penguins hope to generate offense in coming games. He got his first career playoff goal from between the crease and the right circle to cap a sequence during which the Penguins launched multiple shots at New York goalie Henrik Lundqvist and had bodies swarming around him. “Obviously, we’ll have to do that more,” winger David Perron said.

*** The team winning Game 1 has won each of the Penguins’ past six playoff series.

*** Lovejoy said the Rangers didn’t do anything for which the Penguins were not prepared, and that the Penguins still believe they can win the series: “That’s exactly what we expected. We did a good job handling their transition [game], for the most part, but they were able to get far too much momentum, far too early. … We still feel good about this series.We feel good about our team, the guys in this room. There’s a lot of confidence in here. We’re coming with the mindset that we’re going to win, and we need to be ready [for Game 2] Saturday night.”

*** The Penguins had just one chance with the man-advantage. “We have to be doing things to earn an extra power play,” coach Mike Johnston said.

*** The team scoring first has won 25 of the 28 all-time playoff games between the Penguins and New York.

*** The Penguins scratched forwards Craig Adams and Scott Wilson and defensemen Scott Harrington, Derrick Pouliot and Christian Ehrhoff.

*** Johnston’s assessment of the Penguins’ overall performance: “Our forecheck got better in the second and third. As the game kept going, we steadily got better.”

*** Crosby said the Penguins were tentative in the early part of the game. “The first period, we were guilty of thinking a little too much,” he said. “The second and third, we definitely got better.”

*** The Penguins are scheduled to practice Friday afternoon at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.