Vincent Trocheck scored in the first round of the shootout Saturday afternoon as the New York Rangers snapped a five-game losing streak by rallying for a 3-2 victory over the visiting Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Rangers chipped away at a 2-0 deficit after allowing goals to Anthony Mantha and Ryan Shea in the opening three minutes of each of the opening two periods.

Trocheck scored the only goal of the shootout when he cut from the lower edge of the left circle, and his shot beat goalie Stuart Skinner to the glove side.

Mika Zibanejad started the comeback with a power-play goal with ten minutes remaining in the second period and Taylor Raddysh tied it 2:57 into the third.

Igor Shesterkin made five of his 32 saves in overtime and stopped Evgeni Malkin twice in the final half of the third and twice in the extra period. He also denied rookie Egor Chinakov in the second round of the shootout, and the Rangers clinched it when Thomas Novak’s attempt in the third round sailed wide.

Mantha scored a power-play goal 2:08 into the first period and Shea scored 1:59 into the second but the Penguins fell to 9-1-3 in its past 13 contests and were unable to earn their third win over the Rangers this season.

Trocheck’s game-winner improved the Rangers to 3-11-2 in their past 16 games and 2-6-1 in their past nine home games.

Skinner stopped 23 shots before getting beaten by Trocheck.

The Penguins appeared poised to cruise to a rout in the opening minutes of the contest and took a 1-0 lead when Mantha tipped Erik Karlsson’s shot from the right point by Shesterkin.

The Penguins appeared to take a 2-0 lead 52 seconds later, but Bryan Rust’s goal was disallowed when the Rangers successfully challenged that Mantha’s skate clipped Shesterkin in the crease, resulting in goaltender interference.

Pittsburgh took a 2-0 lead when Shea’s shot from the top of the slot fluttered through traffic and eluded Shesterkin.

Zibanejad halved the deficit with 10 minutes left in the second by sending a one-timer by Skinner after getting a pass from Trocheck, and Raddysh’s re-directed pass from Vladislav Gavrikov got by Skinner’s pads for a 2-2 deadlock.

–Field Level Media

Brandon Miller connected on six 3-point shots as part of his game-high 26 points as the Charlotte Hornets beat the visiting Portland Trail Blazers 109-93 on Saturday afternoon.

Coby White, in his delayed Hornets home debut after a trade from Chicago and time off with an injury, racked up 20 points — 10 in each half — off the bench.

LaMelo Ball provided 15 points and eight assists, Miles Bridges posted 14 points and Moussa Diabate supplied 13 points and 11 rebounds as the Hornets won their fourth in a row.

Miller went 6-for-12 on 3-point attempts. Charlotte’s Kon Knueppel, in his first game since setting the NBA season record for 3-pointers by a rookie, shot 2-for-7 from long range and finished with 10 points.

Jrue Holiday led the Trail Blazers with 25 points and Jerami Grant provided 21 points. Grant has reached the 20-point level four consecutive games for the first time this season. Toumani Camara added 12 points for Portland, which shot 11-for-47 on threes — with reserves combining to go 2-for-18 — and 40.7% overall from the field.

The Trail Blazers pulled within 84-77 with 8:26 remaining before Bridges nailed a 3-pointer to ignite a 10-0 spurt. Portland, on the second stop of a five-game road trip, managed just two points in nearly a four-minute span.

Portland finished with 17 turnovers with 22 assists.

After building a 15-point lead, Charlotte settled for a 51-43 halftime lead. The Trail Blazers were 5-for-22 (22.7%) on 3-point launches.

Bridges and Diabate played in their first home game since being suspension for roles in a Feb. 9 brawl with the Detroit Pistons. They combined for 19 rebounds to help the Hornets to a 55-39 edge on the boards.

Donovan Clingan started and played 26 minutes with seven points for the Trail Blazers after missing Thursday’s victory at Chicago because of illness.

–Field Level Media

Tre Carroll scored 18 of his 22 points in the second half, Roddie Anderson III added 21 points and Xavier powered past Georgetown 91-84 on Saturday in a Big East Conference game at Cincinnati.

Filip Borovicanin added 18 for Xavier (14-15, 6-12 Big East), which beat Georgetown for the eighth time in nine meetings while winning for just the third time in 11 games overall.

Georgetown (13-16, 5-13) dropped its sixth straight while playing its first game without its starting point guard and leading scorer KJ Lewis, who is out for the season with a left ankle injury that occurred in a loss to Marquette earlier in the week.

Kayvaun Mulready led the Hoyas with 19 points while Malik Mack added 17.

Jeremiah Williams replaced Lewis in the starting lineup and scored 10 points while making his second start of the season, and first since the Big East opener. Williams scored seven points and dished out four assists in the first half as Georgetown took a 39-38 lead into the break.

Xavier withstood a five-minute scoring drought in the first half and ended the first half on a 12-5 run that cut Georgetown’s eight-point advantage to one.

Borovicanin opened the second half with a 3-pointer and then a steal and a breakaway dunk on the next possession to cap off Xavier’s 10-0 run bridging the end of the first half and the end of the second half while putting the Musketeers up 43-39.

Following a Julius Halaifonua layup to bring Georgetown within one at 45-44, Carroll scored Xavier’s next 12 points. Isaiah Walker’s mid-range jumper broke the run but put Xavier ahead 59-53 with 11:34 remaining.

Anderson knocked down a 3-pointer with 8:08 left to put Xavier ahead 70-61 prompting a timeout from Georgetown head coach Ed Cooley.

Xavier led 73-63 on a Borovicanin three-point play with 6:58 left before Georgetown closed within 75-72 on a Vince Iwuchukwu three-point play with 4:38 left. Xavier built the lead back to 10 on a Borovicanin 3-pointer with 3:23 remaining.

–Field Level Media