Rangers Force Penguins to Game 7 in New York with 5-3 Win


“I think the playoffs can sometimes reveal who you are, what kind of character you have,” Kreider said. “He’s been such a great leader for us all year to stay and keep working with him. He’s been a real horse.”

Rangers trailed 2-0 in one half and the Penguins played without Sidney Crosby. their star center and captain, 40 minutes left to advance to the second round. Zibanejad, however, scored twice in one-off slap shots within 76 seconds of the match.

“There is no quitting,” Zibanejad said of the comeback. “That’s my favorite part of this team.”

A few minutes later there was another crazy breakup. The game started with Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin taking advantage of a bad line change from the Penguins to make a perfect 100m stretch on Zibanejad’s stick. Zibanejad was alone again.

“Sometimes he’s better than all of us to get through,” Zibanejad said of Shesterkin’s stickwork.

penguins goalie Louis Domingue made the first stop at Zibanejad, but Kreider was right there with his linemate and rebounded the backlash to give the Rangers a 3-2 lead. If this sounds like the Game 5 scoring pattern at Madison Square Garden, it was, and it would eventually go up to New York’s last empty net goal.

Evgeni Malkin tied the Penguins 3-3 in a split late in the second period. The game was tied until only 1:28 remained to be played. Kreider then unleashed a high slap shot that Domingue saved in front of his chest, but the puck spun over his head and landed behind him into the net.

“No one said it would be easy,” said Penguins defender Kris Letang. “They’re a really good team. They have talented players who can score goals.”



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