Rangers Comeback Shootout Victory over the Penguins

By Daniel Feuerstein | Saturday, February 28th | New York, NY

Tied in regulation, takes the second point in the shootout

After a disappointing end, returning from the Olympic Break on Thursday night against the Philadelphia Flyers, the New York Rangers returned to Madison Square Garden to face the Pittsburgh Penguins on a Saturday Afternoon game. As they tried to right the ship, the Rangers fell behind, but found a way to get back into the game, and after overtime went by, it took the shootout for the Rangers to earn the second point and win it as the final score was three to two, with a one to nothing win in the shootout to give the Garden fans a nice victory into the backend of the weekend.

Game recap:

The Penguins opened the scoring on the power play when they had the puck along the far boards. Bryan Rust played the puck to the far point toward Erik Karlsson, who just entered across the blue line. He ripped a hard shot toward the net, but inside the slot was Anthony Mantha as he stuck his stick out and deflected the puck down and past Igor Sheserkin for the opening goal at 2:08 of the first period on the power play.

The Penguins got their second of the game as they were buzzing around the top of the Rangers’ zone. ConnorCLifton at the far point made a hard crossice pass to the near point as Ryan Shea received the puck. He had control and skated around the near point for several seconds until he snapped a long wrist shot on goal, which deflected off a Rangers defenseman in front and past Shesterkin at 1:59 of the second period.

The Rangers would finally get on the power play to make a dent in the scoreboard. J.T. Miller, hanging around the near boards, received the puck from Adam Fox, then he made a quick pass down low into the corner to Vincent Trocheck. Making the move to get inside the near faceoff circle was Mika Zibanejad. As soon as the pass was made, a hard one-timer from Zibanejad beat Stuart Skinner, and the Rangers cut the deficit in half at 10:00 in the second period on the power play.

The Rangers finally tied the game inside the opening minutes of the third period. As the Rangers worked the puck along the far corner, they finally dug it out and put it into a space inside the far faceoff circle. Brendon Brisson received the puck and quickly passed it back toward the far point, as Vladislav Gavrikov skated in to take a hard shot, but coming out of nowhere was Taylor Raddysh as he found a way to redirect the puck past Skinner inside the far post to tie the game at 2:57 of the third period.

No goals in the overtime period, so it went to the shootout. Anthony Mantha would miss the puck as he lost control on the backhander and whiffed. Vincent Trocheck scored the only goal in the shootout by going slowly toward the far boards and then skated across the faceoff circle. As he entered the slot, he just snapped it inside the post to win it as Igor Shesterkin made two more saves on Yegor Chinokhov and Thomas Novak to take the second point and win the game.

Mike Sullivan’s post-game comments

“I just loved our competitive spirit. I thought Pittsburgh was a better team in the first period. And I thought we were the better team in the second and third. Um, you know, I thought. And it started with our competitive level. I give the guys a lot of credit. They responded well, you know, and I’m happy for them that we’re able to get a win at home. You know, give these guys something to feel good about. It’ll give us something to build on. But I thought the response was great. And the biggest thing I liked about it was just our competitive fire,” said head coach Mike Sullivan

Tye Kartye & Brendon Brisson make their debuts

Playing in their first game for the Rangers was Tye Kartye, getting picked up on waivers from the Seattle Kraken. And Brendon Brisson, who was acquired in a trade last season for Reilly Smith from the Vegas Golden Knights, was playing this season with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate, the Hartford WolfPack.Both players looked great in their first game at Madison Square Garden. Brisson got a point in the tying goal.

(On Tye Kartye) “He came as advertised, you know, Drew talked to me about his motor and, you know, his ability to help us in the puck pursuit game, getting in on the forecheck, disrupting plays, making it hard on defensemen. Opponents’ breakout options, things of that nature, he has some physicality to his game. We didn’t use him on a penalty kill tonight, but I would anticipate getting him involved with that moving forward. It’s just hard. We haven’t had a chance to really work with him on that, so I didn’t want to put him in a tough spot. Uh, but moving forward, I would. Anticipate him being involved in the penalty kill, also. But I thought he had a good game for us, you know. For a guy that gets the news yesterday, travels all the way across the country, and then has to lace them up on a 12:30 game— That’s not an easy thing to do, but I thought he played really well.”

MIKA ZIBANEJAD: Scored his 132nd career power play goal, tying Nicklas Lidstrom for the fourth-most power play goals by a Swedish player in NHL history. His 12 power play goals this season are tied for the fifth most in the league. With his goal, he surpassed Henrik Zetterberg for the seventh most career goals (338) by a Swedish player in NHL history.

VINCENT TROCHECK: Notched his first game-deciding goal in the shootout of the season and his 12th of his career, the most among any current Rangers skaters. He tallied an assist in back-to-back games and has notched at least one point in seven of his last 11 games (1G-10A).

TYE KARTYE: Made his Rangers debut and recorded a single-game season high of six hits for the third time this season.

BRENDON BRISSON: Recorded his first point as a Ranger with an assist on Taylor Raddysh’s goal.

IGOR SHESTERKIN: Recorded his 12th career win against the Penguins, his most against a single franchise. Since returning to the ice on Feb. 26, he has helped the team earn a point in back-to-back games. This season, he has allowed two or fewer goals in 19 games, tied for the seventh most among all goaltenders in the league.

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