Rangers lose triple OT Game 1 heartbreaker

The first playoffs for the New York Rangers in five years got off to a helluva start with the Pittsburgh Penguins prevailing in triple overtime, 4-3.  It was record setting performance for Igor Shesterkin in a losing effort, but there was a lot more to the game.

Of course, there had to be controversy.  Filip Chytil appeared to score the go-ahead goal with only three minutes left in the third period, but the goal was disallowed after video review. Kaapo Kakko had driven the net and it appeared that Penguin defender Brian Dumoulin had forced Kakko into Penguins goalie Casey DeSmith who made the save, but was out of position for the second shot by Chytil.

Ruled a good goal on the ice, the Penguins challenged for goalie interference.

After the game Ryan Strome said it was a 50-50 call and Gerard Gallant said the same thing. “To me it was a 50-50 call and I sort of felt it was going to go against us, so I can’t argue with that” said the coach.

Looking at the play, it was indeed a judgement call and Dumoulin did come in contact with Kakko.

The Rangers were the beneficiaries of another video review when Ryan Lindgren was called for a five minute major for boarding that was reduced to two minutes after review.  The hit did knock Rickard Rakell out of the game with what might have been a concussion.

Special teams played a huge part in the game.  Adam Fox scored on the only Rangers power play in the first period.

The Penguins had four power plays and scored on a five-on-three after Jacob Trouba was called for boarding, a call that could be called marginal. It was a heavy hit on Jake Guentzel against the boards, but we’ve seen much worse. The Pittsburgh goal actually tied the game as Chris Kreider had just scored a shorthanded goal to take the lead.

The goalies

The big story was the goaltending.  Igor Shesterkin made 79 saves, the most ever by a Ranger goaltender, shattering Gump Worsley’s record of 56 set in 1962.   The 79 saves were the second most in NHL history, trailing only Columbus’ Joonas Korpisalo who made 85 saves in 3-2 loss to Tampa in August 2020.  He couldn’t be faulted on any of the four goals, including the game winning deflection by Evgeni Malkin.  In fact, he allowed four goals when the expected goals total was 8.99.

For Pittsburgh, Casey DeSmith kept the Penguins in the game when they were totally dominated in the first period.  The craziness was when DeSmith had to leave the game 10 minutes into the second overtime with a lower body injury. Third string goalie Louis Domingue came in and made 17 saves in just under 17 minutes.

The 68 shots by the Rangers was a franchise record. They had previously had 54 shots against Vancouver in the 1994 playoffs, a double overtime loss.  The 83 shots by the Penguins was the second most in an NHL playoff game, behind the 88 shots by Tampa in  2020.

It’s had to find fault when a team loses in triple overtime.  Sidney Crosby showed why he is a Hall of Fame player, setting up linemate Jake Guentzel twice.  The Rangers big guns didn’t dominate and you have to wonder how Mika Zibanejad could only have three shots while Artemi Panarin had only two.

What went wrong

The Rangers were absolutely dominant in the first period and five minutes into the second period. They jumped out to a 2-0 lead just three minutes into the second period on a goal by Andrew Copp.

Then they did what they have done often this season.  They stopped hitting and started making risky passes at the blue line.  It allowed Penguins to regroup and they also took four straight penalties in the first two periods that greatly altered momentum.

In the overtimes, neither team wanted to make a mistake, but the Rangers failed to get many good shots on Domingue when he had to come into the game. They still kept looking for the perfect play when they needed to just gets shots on net.  That’s what the Penguins did and they had numerous excellent chances in the overtime periods.

All is not lost.  The Rangers were the much better team in the first period and there’s no doubt that the coaching staff will remind them of what they did right.  The team has learned their lessons all season long and there is no reason to believe that they won’t this time too.