Artemi Panerin's overtime goal propelled the New York Rangers to a 4-3 Game 7 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins. The Rangers will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.
The Athletic NHL Staff
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Summary
Artemi Panerin's overtime goal propelled the New York Rangers to a 4-3 Game 7 victory over the Pittsburgh Penguins.
The Rangers will take on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round.
Follow all the action here as The Athletic's NHL staff keeps you up to date with everything you want to know about this marquee matchup.
You can also follow our NHL Playoffs live blog here.
How to watch (all times Eastern)
NHL picks, bets, lines: Latest odds for Sunday's games
- Rangers 4, Penguins 3 (OT)
(Photo: Kirk Irwin/Getty Images))
How Mika Zibanejad, Chris Kreider got the Rangers to Game 7
Mika Zibanejad was asked on Friday afternoon about fun — you know, the Rangers’ Kid Line is having fun this postseason; what about a more seasoned veteran like Zibanejad?
“I maybe have a hard time enjoying it as much,” Zibanejad said after a decently long pause. He did try to convince reporters in Pittsburgh that the playoffs are fun, but perhaps he and his linemates were having less of it through five games because they’d been so focused on trying (and failing) to stop Sidney Crosby’s line that the strain was overtaking the fun.
“We haven’t created offense maybe enough. Maybe a little too worried about the line we’re playing against,” he said. “Maybe the focus has been too much on that. Trying to work through it, it’s not easy.”
Game 6 was the dam breaking for Zibanejad and Chris Kreider, who had combined for two goals — both from Kreider in the opening two games of the series — coming into Friday’s latest win-or-go-home game. Zibanejad scored the first two, and Kreider scored the next two, including the oopsy-daisy winner with 88 seconds left in regulation from about 50 feet out.
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Last Rangers Game 7
The last time the New York Rangers were in a Game 7 was 2015 against the Washington Capitals in the second round.
Derek Stepan scored the OT winner sending the Rangers to the Eastern Conference Final.
Staple: Rangers need Igor Shesterkin to be ‘MVP Igor’ in Game 7 vs. Penguins
The Rangers haven’t changed the way they talk about Igor Shesterkin during this postseason. What’s changed is how Shesterkin has played, especially since his 79-save outing in Game 1 of the first-round series against the Penguins.
“He’s been our best player all year long,” Chris Kreider said after Friday’s Game 6.
“He’s still the same Igor,” Artemi Panarin said. “Whole team has confidence in him. He has confidence in himself.”
The Athletic NHL Staff
Last Penguins Game 7
The last time the Pittsburgh Penguins were in a Game 7 was the 2017 Eastern Conference Final against the Ottawa Senators.
Chris Kunitz scored the double-OT winner, sending the Penguins to the Stanley Cup Final, which they won over the Nashville Predators.
Key Penguins stat from Game 6
Zero. That’s how many shots the Penguins attempted during 1:07 of five-on-three time with the game tied 2-2. New York won the special-teams battle decisively (two PP goals on three chances, 3-for-3 on the penalty kill).
The Athletic NHL Staff
No changes to Rangers lineup
Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said pregame that his team will have the same lineup tonight as Game 6.
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Where would Sidney Crosby most help?
By losing their last two games, the Penguins positioned themselves to put at risk one of professional sports’ most impressive feats. They will take a 7-0 record in road Game 7s into Madison Square Garden for an opening-round elimination game against the Rangers on Sunday night.
Three of those Game 7 victories have come during the 17-season run with captain Sidney Crosby leading the Penguins. And Crosby generated even more buzz for Sunday night by fully participating in an optional practice Saturday at the Penguins’ suburban Pittsburgh practice facility.
Read this story for the latest on Crosby, goalie Tristan Jarry and other injured Penguins’ statuses for Sunday night.
The Athletic assesses what all the injury news means for the Penguins going into Game 7
Projected Penguins Game 7 lineup
My best guess at tonight’s lineup:
Guentzel-Sid-Rust
Heinen-Malkin-Rakell
Zucker-Carter-Kapanen
McGinn-Blueger-Rodrigues
Matheson-Letang
Pettersson-Marino
Friedman-Ruhwedel
Jarry
Penguins’ Evgeni Malkin did his part, but Rangers force Game 7
Evgeni Malkin had the puck on his stick, just enough open ice in front of him to hold off a couple of oncoming Rangers and break in against New York goalie Igor Shesterkin. Instead of trying something fancy, he fired one of those shots that so few players can — placing the puck with pace over Shesterkin’s pad and under his glove — and the ensuing goal, Malkin’s third of this opening-round series, reclaimed momentum for the Penguins after they spent much of the second period squandering it and another two-goal lead.
As Malkin was celebrating and a sellout crowd at PPG Paints Arena serenaded him with chants of “Geno,” not a lot of people from Pittsburgh to New York would have liked the Rangers chances of winning Game 6.
But win Game 6 the Rangers did.
Or did the Penguins lose it?
Plenty of drama if Jarry suits up
If Jarry plays tonight we will have a different kind of theater. Put yourselves in Jarry’s shoes for a minute: You were embarrassed last season in the playoffs against the Islanders. You’ve heard for the past 12 months that you’re not the guy in the playoffs, that you don’t have the answers. You’ve been motivated by this. It’s made you better. You made it to the NHL All-Star Game. Then you broke your foot and never got the chance to strut your stuff in the playoffs.
Except, maybe you do. But you don’t get a best-of-seven. You get one chance. At the Garden. Game 7. You’re rusty. The Rangers are talented. The whole hockey world is watching.
The series has had everything else, so why not? I don’t envy Jarry. Some will choose to destroy him if he plays and loses.
But if health isn’t an issue, he simply needs to play.
The Athletic NHL Staff
Mike Sullivan addresses Crosby and Jarry situations
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Latest on Crosby's head injury
While a source said earlier in the week that Crosby had been diagnosed with a concussion, multiple team sources said Sunday that he did experience symptoms but never failed a concussion test.
Symptoms included a headache after he was hit by Rangers defenseman Jacob Trouba in Game 5 on Wednesday.
Crosby is symptom-free, the sources said Sunday.
He did not play in Game 6 as a precaution and is considered a game-time decision for Game 7 in New York. He practiced in full Saturday before the Penguins’ charter flight to New York.
Yohe’s 10 observations
Louis Domingue has been a sublime story and has done pretty well in this series, given his pedigree and the circ*mstances.
But it would appear only Tristan Jarry can save the Penguins now.
Domingue has allowed four or more goals in four of his five starts in this series and allowed Chris Kreider’s putrid game-winner in the final 90 seconds of regulation Friday at PPG Paints Arena to gift wrap the Rangers a 5-3 victory in Game 6 of the roller-coaster first-round series.
(Photo: Charles LeClaire / USA Today)
The Athletic NHL Staff
Crosby, Jarry and Rakell game-time decisions
Pittsburgh Penguins star Sidney Crosby will be a game-time decision for Game 7 of the team's first-round playoff series against the New York Rangers, coach Mike Sullivan said Sunday.
Crosby, who practiced with the team Saturday, sat out of Game 6 with what the team called an upper-body injury. While a source said earlier in the week that Crosby had been diagnosed with a concussion, multiple team sources said Sunday that he did experience symptoms but never failed a concussion test. He was symptom-free on Sunday, the sources said.
Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry is also a game-time decision along with forward Rickard Rakell, who also has been dealing with a concussion.
(Photo: Joe Sargent / NHLI via Getty Images)
