Shesterkin, Rangers Manage to Fend Off Penguins

When the 2024-25 season began, only the hopelessly optimistic believed the Pittsburgh Penguins could contend for anything more than a lower-level slot in the Eastern Conference playoff field.

The outlook, however, was very different in Manhattan, where it was generally accepted that the New York Rangers would easily qualify for postseason play, and that pondering the finer points of a championship parade down the Canyon of Heroes didn’t seem unreasonable.

The Rangers, after all, had won the NHL’s regular-season title in 2023-24 and possessed a lineup studded with the elite likes of Artemi Panarin, Adam Fox and Igor Shesterkin, among others.

But while New York is five points — make that, only five points — ahead of the Penguins (23-27-9) in the Eastern Conference playoff race after their 5-3 victory at PPG Paints Arena Sunday, the Rangers don’t look much like a team worthy of playing beyond the regular season.

Not when the Penguins’ 33-16 edge in shots was a pretty fair reflection of how the game played out.

“I thought we carried play the majority of the night,” Penguins coach Mike Sullivan said.

True, but the Penguins had subpar goaltending for the second time this weekend. Alex Nedeljkovic gave up five goals on 14 shots in an 8-3 loss to Washington Saturday and New York sored on four of 15 shots against Joel Blomqvist.

“I know, as a (goaltending) tandem, we’re capable of being better,” Sullivan said.

The Penguins played without right winger Bryan Rust for the third game in a row. New York left winger Chris Kreider, who has 18 goals in 45 regular-season games against the Penguins, was a late scratch because of an unspecified upper-body injury.

After his team struggled to get pucks past Shesterkin during the first 40 minutes, Penguins defenseman Ryan Shea, who had one goal in 53 previous NHL appearances, scored twice in a span of two minutes, 34 seconds to give them a 3-2 lead early in the third period.

His first of the season went through heavy traffic before eluding Shesterkin at 57 seconds and his second appeared to glance off Rangers defenseman K’Andre Miller before ending up in the net at 3:31.

Although those goals probably stunned New York even more than they did Shea, Jimmy Vesey countered for the Rangers 50 seconds later by wristing a shot past Blomqvist from the top of the right circle at 4:21.

New York then moved back in front to stay at 11:26, when Fox swiped the puck from Shea and whipped a shot by Blomqvist from the slot for what proved to be the game-winner. J.T. Miller hit an empty net with 6.5 seconds remaining to close out the scoring.

Shesterkin, who started the Rangers’ 8-2 loss in Buffalo Saturday but was pulled after allowing five goals in the first period, faced 12 shots from the Penguins during the first 20 minutes against the Penguins and stopped all but one of them.

Evgeni Malkin put that one into the New York net at 12:53, steering a shanked shot by Cody Glass past Shesterkin for his 10th of the season. Danton Heinen got the second assist.

Rangers enforcer Matt Rempe knocked Penguins defenseman out of the game with a big hit from behind at 14:24. Rempe was initially assessed a major penalty, but it was reduced to a minor after a video review.

Grzelcyk was on his hands and knees for an extended period, then slowly made his way to the locker room. The Penguins announced early in the second period that Grzelcyk would not return to the game because of an unspecified upper-body injury.

Blomqvist stopped a breakaway by former Penguins forward Reilly Smith while New York was killing the Rempe penalty, but couldn’t prevent the Rangers from scoring after Kris Letang was sent off for tripping Rempe at 17:41.

Winger Will Cuylle got the goal 47.6 seconds before the intermission by beat Blomqvist from above the left dot.

The Penguins had a clear advantage in play for much of the first period, as evidenced by their decided edge in shots then, and got off to an even stronger start in the second, when they were credited with the first 17 shots.

They had an opportunity to go back in front when New York defenseman Urho Vaakanainen was penalized for holding at 4:45, but were unable to score.

They got another chance with the extra man at 12:26 and again failed to capitalize.

The Rangers were credited with their first shot of the second at 15:09, a 55-footer by defenseman Braden Schneider. That was New York’s first even-strength shot in nearly 28 minutes of play.

The Penguins’ domination was rendered moot with three minutes to go before the intermission, when Miller threw a shot past Blomqvist from above the right circle to cap a 2-on-1 break that began after P.O Joseph was unable to hold a bouncing puck in the New York zone.

The Penguins finished the period with a 18-4 edge in shots, despite yielding the only goal then.

The Pittsburgh Penguins are not scheduled to practice Monday, but will travel to Philadelphia for a game against the Flyers Tuesday.