Rangers knot series 1-1, beat Penguins 5-2

About the game

The Rangers came out hitting, the same way the did in the first game and it paid off at 6:50 when Andrew Copp scored on an excellent feed from Artemi Panarin, who passed up a good shot to make the pass to Copp in the slot.

As usual, the Rangers gave the lead right back two minutes later when Jake Guentzel scored after a center ice giveaway by Panarin. He tried a pass that was intecepted by Sidney Crosby.  It was a broken play as the puck bounced off the K’Andre Miller’s skate right to Guentzel in the slot who had an open net.

The period ended tied 1-1 with the teams very close statistically. That all turned around in the second period when the Rangers finally got a power play, their first in over five periods of hockey.  With time running out on the power play, it was Adam Fox who took the shot that Ryan Strome deflected from the high slot.

At 12:06, they opened up a two goal lead when Chris Kreider scored one of his patented deflections of a shot from the blueline by Frank Vatrano.

The Rangers cannot stand prosperity, allowing an outstanding individual effort by Sidney Crosby who scored almost singlehandedly, beating four Rangers and Shesterkin.

That goal, at 18:34, led he way into the third period with the Pens trailing 3-2.

The third period was all Penguins as they had 10 shots on goal on 14 shot attempts while the Rangers had only two shot attempts.  Shesterkin was dazzling in this sequence and the Rangers were lucky to hold on to the one goal lead.

At 8:02 Artemi Panarin attempted to make a pass to Jacob Trouba and it hit Penguins’ Mike Matheson’s skate and deflected under Louis Domingue and into the net.

Never mind the irony that Panarin scored a goal while attempting to make a pass.  The Rangers iced the game when Frank Vatrano scored on a wicked shot past Domingue’s glove side.

Pittsburgh pulled their goalie with over three minutes left, but couldn’t get any good shots on goal and the game ended with a series of penalties.  There was a scary moment when Jeff Carter collided with Shesterkin, upending the Rangers goalie.

Shersterkin was prone on the ice for a while, but got up and finished the game.

From different angles it looked like Shesterkin might have stuck his leg out a little, but Carter also made no effort to avoid the contact.

The Rangers ended the game on the power play, but to keep any shenanigans off the ice, Gallant sent out the fourth line to keep the peace.

Here’s a full extended recap of the game:

This was the Rangers’ first posteason win since May 4, 2017 when they beat the Ottawa Senators.

The Penguins had a stretch of six straight power plays, a trend that disturbed Gallant.  After the game he said that he felt that Evan Rodrigues deserved a penalty for tripping Shesterkin behind the net in the first minute of the game.

He also pointed out that the Rangers had gotten no calls in Game One after their first period power play.

The Rangers ended up with four power plays, but two came during garbage time, late in the third period.

The Rangers have scored twice on six power plays.  Their 40% success rate is second best in the playoffs.

The Blueshirts have killed five of six penalties, an 83.3% success rate.  That’s sixth best in the postseason.

Chris Kreider got the game winning goal and tied Mark Messier for the franchise record of seven playoff game winners.

Igor Shesterkin now has 118 saves on 124 shots in two games, a save percentage of .952.  He became the first goalie in NHL history (since they began tracking shots on goal in 1955-56) to have 100 saves in his team’s first two playoff games. The previous record had been 97 saves.  The 118 saves in two games is tied for the second most in NHL history.

For the second straight game, Shesterkin held the Penguins to fewer goals than expected.  In this game the Penguins expected goals was 4.27 and they scored twice.  In Game One, the expected goals total for Pittsburgh was nine and they scored four times.

During the first period penalty to Patrik Nemeth, Shesterkin was credited with a shot on goal when he cleared the puck and Louis Domingue had to make the save.

Andrew Copp scored in his second straight game, joining Michael Grabner and Alex Kovalev as Rangers who scored in their first two playoff games.

Louis Domingue was very good early, but was more ordinary as the game went on. He made some outstanding stops in the first period.<

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Jacob Trouba led all skaters in ice time, playing 24:03.

Ryan Reaves led the team in hits with six and leveled Evgeni Malkin early with a massive bodycheck.

Ryan Lindgren did not play as he was “banged up” and is day-to-day.  Justin Braun played in his 101st playoff game and did well, including an assist on Andrew Copp’s goal.

Barclay Goodrow looks to be out a while with a lower body injury.  It’s believed to be a foot injury suffered while blocking a shot in the third overtime on Tuesday.  Dryden Hunt came into the lineup and played his usual energetic and physical game.  Gallant called Goodrow’s injury “week-to-week” and said that he won’t be able to return in this series.

After Kreider’s goal made the score 3-1, Pens coach Mike Sullivan took a long look at the goal before deciding not to challenge. After the game he said that they were looking to see if the deflection was with a high stick (it was clearly not) and also if play should have been whistled dead earlier due to a high stick.

Adam Fox continues to excel. He added his first playoff assist on Strome’s power play goal and he has been the offensive quarterback, jumping into and controlling play much more than he did in the regular season.  It looks like he has raised him game another notch, something that one would think was hardly possible.

Sidney Crosby’s line continued to dominate as they scored both Penguins goals and have now accounted for five of their six goals

My 3 Rangers stars

1. There is no doubt that Igor Shesterkin, with 39 saves was the first star of the game. He was simply amazing.
2. Frank Vatrano had a three point night, scoring once and assisting on two others.  It was his quick shot from the blue line that Chris Kreider deflected for the winning goal.
3. Artemi Panarin had his usual game, dazzling at times and also tremendously frustrating.  It’s no surprise that he scored when he was trying to pass, but he still finished with three points including a fantastic pass to Andrew Copp for the first goal. And we all know how important it is for the Rangers to score first.  He did give the puck away to Crosby and that led to the first Penguins goal, but Panarin was a force in this game.  He now has 11 goals and 31 points in 32 playoff games.

The official 3 stars

1. Artemi Panarin
2. Igor Shesterkin
3. Frank Vatrano

Playoffs update

Panthers 5 Capitals 1: The Panthers evened up their series with the Capitals, winning 5-1.  12 different Panthers made the scoresheet as they broke open a 2-1 game with three second period goals.

Stars 2 Flames 0 : The Dallas Stars shut out the Flames 2-0 to tie their series.  A first period goal by Joe Pavelski was all Jake Oettinger needed.

Avalanche 2 Predators 1 (OT): Cale Makar scored 8:31 into overtime as the Avalanche beat Nashville 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in their series.  The underdog Predators almost won with rookie Connor Ingram in goal for only his fourth NHL start after an injury to Juuse Saros and after veteran David Rittich was pulled after 15 minutes in Colorado’s 7-2 Game One win. He allowed five goals on 13 shots.

Rangers-Penguins Game 3:  The next game for the Rangers will be Saturday at 7pm in Pittsburgh.  It’s another game that will be televised by TNT as well as the MSG Network.  The Blueshirts’ win means that they wll be retuning to Madison Square Garden for Game Five on May 11.  National television and the start time is to be determined.