Goalie makes 31 saves for New York, which ends 5-game skid; Mantha, Shea score for Pittsburgh
Penguins at Rangers | Recap
Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves, including five in overtime, and the New York Rangers rallied from down two goals for a 3-2 shootout win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden in New York on Saturday.
Vincent Trocheck scored in the first round of the shootout. Shesterkin made saves on Anthony Mantha and Egor Chinakhov in the first two rounds before Tommy Novak missed the net in the third round.
“It’s comforting (to have Shesterkin), I’m not going to lie,” New York coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think he’s the best goalie in the game. Just his compete level, he’s an elite player. So, it’s comforting to have him between the pipes.”
PIT@NYR: Trocheck lifts the Rangers past the Penguins in a shootout
Mika Zibanejad and Taylor Raddysh scored for the Rangers (23-29-7), who had lost five straight (0-4-1).
“It was nice to get the two points, finally,” Shesterkin said. “We did a great job. Not a good start for us, but from the second period, through the rest of the game, we played pretty well.”
Mantha and Ryan Shea scored, and Stuart Skinner made 23 saves for the Penguins (30-15-13), who are 9-1-4 since Jan. 13, but have four wins in 17 tries when a game reaches overtime this season with just one win in nine games decided in the shootout.
“We’ll continue to work (on the shootout),” Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said. “We’ll continue to look at it. It just hasn’t been good. It’s on all of us. We’ve got to keep looking at ways we can get better at it. We’ve tried some different guys, we’ve tried some different things, but the results are what they are.”
Mantha put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 on a power play at 2:08 of the first period, deflecting a point shot from Erik Karlsson for his 21st goal of the season.
PIT@NYR: Mantha tips in a PPG for a 1-0 lead in 1st
Bryan Rust appeared to extend the lead on the power play at 3:00, taking a cross-ice pass from Evgeni Malkin for a snap shot in the left face-off circle, but it was disallowed after Mantha was ruled to have interfered with Shesterkin following a coach’s challenge by the Rangers.
Rust later hit the right post with another snap shot on a rush at 13:23.
The Penguins were outshooting the Rangers 12-2 after Shea made it 2-0 at 1:59 of the second period. He spun off Noah Laba at the point for a wrist shot that went in off New York defenseman Scott Morrow.
“We (didn’t) play bad, we played OK, but we just need to play a little bit simpler sometimes,” Malkin said. “We try to play, like, beautiful sometimes. … When we lead, like, 2-0, we start to play a little bit cute.”
Zibanejad cut it to 2-1 at 10:00 with a power-play goal, a one-timer from the slot set up by Trocheck. It was Zibanejad’s team-leading 24th goal and 12th on the power play.
“They got buzzing after they scored,” Skinner said. “There’s a momentum shift there. And then, it just kind of stayed that way for a little while.”
PIT@NYR: Zibanejad unleashes one-timer for PPG in 2nd
Novak could have put Pittsburgh back up by two on a breakaway at 15:02, but had a backhand denied by a pad save from Shesterkin.
Raddysh tied it 2-2 at 2:57 of the third period, redirecting a shot from Vladislav Gavrikov while drifting above the crease.
“It felt good,” Raddysh said. “We were having kind of a good push there in the second. To get one early in the third to get right back into the game was big for us. … Shooting the puck and getting behind them, that was our biggest thing. When we do that, play well behind their ‘D’, we’re a good team. Just have to do it more often.”
NOTES: Zibanejad’s goal was his 338th in the NHL, passing Henrik Zetterberg (337) for the seventh-most by a Sweden-born player. … The Rangers’ five multi-goal comeback wins are tied for the second-most this season with the Edmonton Oilers, Philadelphia Flyers and Dallas Stars, behind the Anaheim Ducks (nine). … Penguins defenseman Samuel Girard had one shot on goal in 20:57 of ice time after missing practice Friday because of a lower-body injury. … Forward Tye Kartye had two shots on goal in 12:39 of ice time in his Rangers debut after being claimed off waivers from the Seattle Kraken on Friday.
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