Igor Shesterkin earns shutout, Rangers dominate Penguins at Garden
Artemi Panarin of the Rangers celebrates his first-period goal against the Penguins at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Jim McIsaac
Remember that chemistry the Rangers were searching for in the first few days after the NHL trade deadline?
They appear to have found it.
Playing their third game against Pittsburgh in a week, the Rangers cranked up their high-powered offense in a 6-0 victory that gave them their second straight win over the Penguins, their third straight to start the homestand and their fifth win in the last six games (5-0-1).
Artemi Panarin had two goals as each member of the Rangers’ top line picked up at least one. Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists and Vladimir Tarasenko also scored.
Chris Kreider and Jacob Trouba scored the other goals for the Rangers (40-19-10) and Igor Shesterkin turned in probably his finest performance of the season, making 33 saves. He earned his second shutout of the season and 10th of his career.
“We scored on our chances,’’ Zibanejad said. “Obviously, the second was a really good period for us. We really took advantage of the chances that we created. And obviously, Igor in net. Yeah, it was obviously a good win.’’
Asked if it seemed as if everything was clicking for the Rangers, Panarin tried to deflect that thinking. “Sometimes that happens,’’ he said. “So we take that, and just, we’ll have to keep working . . . If you work hard, you deserve it. Playing the right way, you have opportunities for goals.’’
The margin of victory against a Penguins team that had beaten the Rangers in overtime last Sunday in Pittsburgh seemed to surprise coach Gerard Gallant.
“I thought [Pittsburgh] controlled the first, a bit, but that was fine. And then the second [when the Rangers scored four times] was real good, obviously,’’ he said. “And then the third period, there was just one of those games, 6-0 [and] you don’t want to run the score up. You just want to play the game and get through it.
“And you know, fortunately for us, Igor made some key saves again to keep his shutout. But it was a different game. I didn’t expect that game for sure.’’
The victory pushed the Rangers 12 points ahead of the Penguins in the Metropolitan Division standings. They also pulled within five points of the Devils for second place in the division (95-90) with 13 games to go.
“Obviously, you’re trying your best to stay in the moment . . . but I think we’re trending in the right direction and it’s exciting,’’ defenseman Braden Schneider said before the game when asked about the playoffs.
“Everyone’s excited to get to that point, and it’s the best time of the year to play hockey. But we’ve still got lots of work to do and some games to finish here.’’
Playing in front of a national television audience, the Rangers took a 2-0 lead in the first period on goals by Zibanejad at 5:10 and Panarin (on a power play) at 19:49. In between, Shesterkin (32-11-7) was brilliant in making 15 saves, many of them of the top-shelf variety.
Shesterkin made at least a half-dozen eye-opening saves in the game, perhaps the most impressive of which was the one he made on Mikael Granlund about five minutes into the third period. He lay down flat on his left side and kicked his right pad up in the air to stop Granlund’s shot from point-blank range.
Tarasenko’s one-timer off Zibanejad’s return pass finished a three-on-one break at 3:54 of the second period.
Kreider’s third goal in two games — right after Vincent Trocheck exited the penalty box and passed to Patrick Kane, who relayed it to Kreider — made it 4-0 and ended the night for Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry, who was pulled after allowing four goals on 17 shots.
Backup Casey DeSmith was greeted by a sharp-angle shot from Trouba that snuck into the upper right corner of the goal, between the side of DeSmith’s mask and his left shoulder.
Panarin’s second goal, off an assist from Kane, made it 6-0 at 16:38.
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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