Penguins Vs Rangers: Shesterkin shuts door in comeback shootout as season-series, previews loom
The penguins vs rangers matchup on Saturday ended with Igor Shesterkin making 31 saves and the New York Rangers rallying from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 shootout win at Madison Square Garden, a result that snapped New York's five-game skid and left Pittsburgh turning quickly to its next game.
Shesterkin’s 31 saves, five in overtime, sealed it in the shootout
Igor Shesterkin finished with 31 saves, including five in overtime. Vincent Trocheck scored in the first round of the shootout. Shesterkin denied Anthony Mantha and Egor Chinakhov in the first two rounds before Tommy Novak missed the net in the third round, ending the sequence.
How the game unfolded: Mantha, Shea put Penguins ahead before Rangers rallied
Anthony Mantha put Pittsburgh ahead 1-0 on a power play at 2: 08 of the first period, deflecting a point shot from Erik Karlsson for his 21st goal of the season. Bryan Rust appeared to extend the lead on the power play at 3: 00, taking a cross-ice pass from Evgeni Malkin, but that goal was disallowed after Mantha was ruled to have interfered with Shesterkin following a coach's challenge by the Rangers. Rust later hit the right post at 13: 23 of the first.
Ryan Shea made it 2-0 at 1: 59 of the second period, spinning off Noah Laba at the point and sending a wrist shot in that deflected off New York defenseman Scott Morrow. Mika Zibanejad cut the deficit to 2-1 at 10: 00 of the second with a power-play one-timer set up by Vincent Trocheck; it was Zibanejad's team-leading 24th goal and his 12th on the power play. New York tied and forced overtime, then won the shootout.
Key statistics and team trajectories
Stuart Skinner made 23 saves for the Penguins. New York entered the game having lost five straight (0-4-1) and left with a 3-2 shootout victory. Pittsburgh sits at 30-15-13 and New York at 23-29-7 in the records provided surrounding the matchup. Pittsburgh has been strong since Jan. 13, going 9-1-4 in that span, but the team has managed just four wins in 17 overtime games this season and one win in nine shootouts.
Rangers and Penguins lines, goalies and roster notes for the 2/28/2026 game
Game day listings for the Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers (2/28/2026) included these forward groupings and roster notes:
New York lines: J. T. Miller - Mika Zibanejad - Gabriel Perreault; Will Cuylle - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafrenière; Conor Sheary - Noah Laba - Brendan Brisson; Tye Karate - Sam Carrick - Taylor Raddysh. Goalies: Igor Shesterkin, Jonathan Squick. Potential scratches: Urho Vaakanainen, Jonny Brodzinski, Scott Morrow. Injured Reserve: Adam Edstrom, Matt Rempe.
Pittsburgh lines: Avery Hayes - Rickard Rakell - Bryan Rust; Egor Chinakhov - Tommy Novak - Evgeni Malkin; Anthony Mantha - Ben Kindel - Justin Brazeau; Connor Dewar - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari. Goalies: Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner. Potential scratches: Kevin Hayes, Ryan Graves, Ilya Solovyov.
Preview context: quick turnaround for Pittsburgh and Rangers chasing a win streak reset
The Penguins were scheduled to return home for a 1 p. m. ET matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights the next day and then to play five games over the following nine days. The Rangers were still looking for their first win since the Olympic break after blowing a 2-0 lead in what became a 3-2 overtime loss to the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday at Madison Square Garden.
Season-series notes showed the two clubs split early in October — Pittsburgh won 3-0 in New York before losing 6-1 at home five days later — and the Penguins held off a comeback in a 6-5 win at home on Jan. 31. A hidden stat listed the Rangers tied for the fewest home points and fewest home wins (six) after going 6-15-5 at Madison Square Garden so far this season, while the Penguins ranked sixth for road wins with a 16-7-5 away record.
Voices from the locker rooms
New York coach Mike Sullivan said, "It's comforting (to have Shesterkin), I'm not going to lie. I think he's the best goalie in the game. Just his compete level, he's an elite player. So, it's comforting to have him between the pipes. " Shesterkin added, "It was nice to get the two points, finally. We did a great job. Not a good start for us, but from the second period, through the rest of the game, we played pretty well. "
Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse said, "We'll continue to work (on the shootout). We'll continue to look at it. It just hasn't been good. It's on all of us. We've got to keep looking at ways we can get better at it. We've tried some different guys, we've tried some different things, but the results are what they are. " Evgeni Malkin reflected on the team's approach: "We (didn't) play bad, we played OK, but we just need to play a little bit simpler sometimes. We try to play, like, beautiful sometimes.... When we lead, like, 2-0, we start to play a little bit cute. " Penguins goalie Stuart Skinner said, "They got buzzing after they scored. There's a momentum shift there. And then, it just kind of stayed that way for a little while. "
Next on the schedule confirmed in the game preview: Pittsburgh returns home for a 1 p. m. ET game against the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow, and the Penguins will play five games over the next nine days as the teams continue to sort their seasons.
