Penguins Vs Rangers: Shesterkin’s 31 saves lift Rangers to 3-2 shootout win
Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves as the New York Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 3-2 in a shootout at Madison Square Garden, a result that reshaped the immediate outlook in the penguins vs rangers matchup and ended New York’s five-game skid.
Shesterkin steals the night at Madison Square Garden
Shesterkin finished with 31 saves, including five in overtime, and stopped Anthony Mantha and Egor Chinakhov in the first two rounds of the shootout before Vincent Trocheck scored in the first round and Tommy Novak missed the net in the third round, handing New York a 3-2 shootout victory at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
Penguins Vs Rangers: how the shootout unfolded
Vincent Trocheck converted in the shootout’s first round. Shesterkin’s saves on Mantha and Chinakhov kept the game alive after regulation and overtime; Tommy Novak’s third-round miss sealed the win for the Rangers, who rallied from a 2-0 hole to capture the extra point.
Goals, disallowed call and key moments
Anthony Mantha opened the scoring 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 Penguins’ lead on the power play at 3: 00 but the goal was disallowed after Mantha was ruled to have interfered with Shesterkin following a coach’s challenge by the Rangers; Rust later struck the right post at 13: 23 of the first. Ryan Shea made it 2-0 at 1: 59 of the second period on a wrist shot that spun off Noah Laba at the point and in off Rangers defenseman Scott Morrow. Mika Zibanejad cut the lead to 2-1 at 10: 00 with a power-play one-timer set up by Trocheck; that goal was Zibanejad’s team-leading 24th and his 12th on the power play.
Quotes, records and game trends
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 said, "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 added, "We (didn't) play bad, we played OK, but we just need to play a little bit simpler sometimes... When we lead, like, 2-0, we start to play a little bit cute. " Stuart Skinner made 23 saves for Pittsburgh.
Standings, split records and the season preview details
The box score listed the Rangers at 23-29-7 after the game and the Penguins at 30-15-13 for the contest; a separate preview packaged with the matchup listed Pittsburgh at 30-15-12 with 72 points in 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division and New York at 22-29-7 with 51 points in 8th place in the Metropolitan Division. The preview noted the teams split their early-season series in October, with the Penguins winning 3-0 in New York and then losing 6-1 at home five days later, and that the Penguins held off a Rangers comeback in a 6-5 home win on Jan. 31.
Lineups, scratches and hidden stats from the preview
The preview listed forward groupings that included J. T. Miller, Mika Zibanejad and Gabriel Perreault on one line and Will Cuylle, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafrenière on another; other New York forwards listed were Conor Sheary, Noah Laba, Brendan Brisson and Tye Karate, Sam Carrick, Taylor Raddysh. Goalies listed for New York included Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Squick, with potential scratches Urho Vaakanainen, Jonny Brodzinski and Scott Morrow and injured reserve entries Adam Edstrom and Matt Rempe. Pittsburgh forward groups in the preview included Avery Hayes, Rickard Rakell and Bryan Rust; Egor Chinakhov, Tommy Novak and Evgeni Malkin; Anthony Mantha, Ben Kindel and Justin Brazeau; Connor Dewar, Blake Lizotte and Noel Acciari. Pittsburgh goalies were listed as Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner, with potential scratches Kevin Hayes, Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov. The preview highlighted a hidden stat: the Rangers were tied for the fewest home points and fewest home wins (six) after going 6-15-5 at Madison Square Garden, while the Penguins ranked sixth for road wins with a 16-7-5 away record.
The immediate consequence: New York ended a five-game skid (0-4-1) with the 3-2 shootout victory, while Pittsburgh’s wider schedule looms — the preview notes the Penguins return home for a 1 p. m. ET matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow and then face five games over the next nine days. The next confirmed date tied to the preview is the Pittsburgh at New York matchup listed for 2/28/2026.
