Main takeaways from Game 6 as New York Rangers refuse to die

It wasn’t straightforward but the New York Rangers again refused to quit after beating the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 on Friday to force a Game Seven at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.

Heading back to Pittsburgh for another do-or-die situation in Game Six, the Blueshirts somehow began proceedings on the back-foot dispute having the clear advantage of no Sidney Crosby on the ice.

Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust gave the Penguins a 2-0 lead heading into the second period, with it looking likely that New York’s lack of postseason experience would prove to be their downfall.

However, timing is everything in life and everything clicked for the Rangers in the second period as Mika Zibanejad suddenly remembered to score, lighting the lamp for his first two goals of this series before Chris Kreider also tallied on a power play that also exploded back into life.

Kreider would come up clutch with the go-ahead goal from the point, although that has since been credited to Zibanejad for the hat trick goal, and Andrew Copp added an empty-netter as the Rangers lived to fight another day.

It was another lesson in resiliency from this team who will now look to finish the job in Game Seven, but first let’s take a look at some takeaways from a wild, wild Game Six…

Igor The Great

Igor Shesterkin has been talked about plenty in this series having endured a couple of big lows, but Game Six can be considered his signature postseason moment in more than one way.

Having bounced back in Game Five, the Vezina Trophy finalist followed that up with another big outing on Friday, stopping 31 of the 34 shots he faced and coming up clutch at key moments in the game.

Shesterkin looked locked in once again, which is certainly a welcome sign ahead of Game Seven, and he passed a significant test by going back to Pittsburgh and not collapsing under the pressure from the home crowd as he did in Games Three and Four.

However, as good as the young stud was between the pipes, he was generating headlines for what he did outside of the crease.

With the game tied at 2 in the second period and with the Rangers on the power play, the Penguins cleared the puck down the ice to give their penalty killing unit time to regroup.

However, there was no planning for what happened next.

Shesterkin glided confidently out of his net and, almost in one movement, slung a jaw-dropping pass through the middle of the ice and onto the tape of Mika Zibanejad, who was off to the races and his shot attempt was pushed into the path of Chris Kreider who made it a 3-2 game.

It was one of the plays of the entire postseason without a doubt, and it wasn’t surprising that both Zibanejad and Kreider were in awe of what their goalie had done, although they weren’t surprised given that Shesterkin has that high-level quality in his locker.

And, it was perhaps fitting that Shesterkin returned to the scene of the crime in Pittsburgh, a place that proved to be a house of nightmares in Games Three and Four, and have a hand in what was  a huge goal in the game, and potentially in the entire series.