Penguins Vs Rangers, penguins vs rangers: Shesterkin, Rangers complete comeback in shootout
penguins vs rangers produced a dramatic finish at Madison Square Garden on Saturday as Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves — including five in overtime — and the New York Rangers rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 3-2 shootout win over the Pittsburgh Penguins. Vincent Trocheck scored in the first round of the shootout and Shesterkin stopped Anthony Mantha and Egor Chinakhov in the opening rounds before Tommy Novak missed the net in the third round.
Penguins Vs Rangers: Game recap
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 for a snap shot in the left face-off circle, but the 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 with another snap shot on a rush 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 for a wrist shot that went in off New York defenseman Scott Morrow, at which point the Penguins were outshooting the Rangers 12-2. Mika Zibanejad cut the deficit to 2-1 at 10: 00 of the second with a power-play one-timer from the slot set up by Vincent Trocheck; that was Zibanejad's team-leading 24th goal and his 12th on the power play. Taylor Raddysh also scored for the Rangers in regulation to force overtime.
Key plays and sequence of events
New York trailed 2-0 after the Shea goal, then shifted momentum with Zibanejad's power-play strike and later Raddysh's goal. The game went to overtime, where Shesterkin made five saves, and then to a shootout. In the shootout Vincent Trocheck scored in round one; Shesterkin denied Anthony Mantha and Egor Chinakhov in the first two rounds; Tommy Novak missed the net in the third round, sealing a 3-2 shootout win for the Rangers.
Goalie and coach reactions
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. " New York coach Mike Sullivan praised Shesterkin: "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. " Pittsburgh coach Dan Muse addressed his club's shootout struggles: "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. " Goaltender Stuart Skinner, who made 23 saves for the Penguins, 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. " Evgeni Malkin added, "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. "
Lines, scratches and injuries
The New York forward group listed in the preview included J. T. Miller - Mika Zibanejad - Gabriel Perreault; Will Cuylle - Vincent Trocheck - Alexis Lafrenière; Conor Sheary - Noah Laba - Brendan Brisson; and Tye Karate - Sam Carrick - Taylor Raddysh, with goalies Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Squick. Potential scratches noted were Urho Vaakanainen, Jonny Brodzinski and Scott Morrow. Injured Reserve entries were Adam Edstrom and Matt Rempe. Pittsburgh's lines listed Avery Hayes - Rickard Rakell - Bryan Rust; Egor Chinakhov - Tommy Novak - Evgeni Malkin; Anthony Mantha - Ben Kindel - Justin Brazeau; and Connor Dewar - Blake Lizotte - Noel Acciari, with goalies Arturs Silovs and Stuart Skinner. Potential scratches for Pittsburgh were Kevin Hayes, Ryan Graves and Ilya Solovyov.
Preview and schedule notes
The Game Preview carried the date 2/28/2026 for Pittsburgh Penguins at New York Rangers and noted the Penguins' listing as 30-15-12 with 72 points and in 2nd place in the Metropolitan Division while the Rangers were shown at 22-29-7 with 51 points and in 8th place in the Metropolitan Division. The preview also referenced a separate standings line that showed the Rangers as 23-29-7 after the shootout win, and the Penguins as 30-15-13 in the box score context. The preview said the Pens were set to be back home for a 1 p. m. ET matchup with the Vegas Golden Knights tomorrow and then would play five games over the next nine days. It noted 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 details in the preview tracked that the Penguins and Rangers split early in October — the Penguins won 3-0 in New York before losing 6-1 at home five days later — and that the Penguins narrowly held off a comeback in a 6-5 home win on Jan. 31. A hidden stat in the preview showed 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; the Penguins were noted as ranking sixth for road wins with a 16-7-5 record in away games.
Final scoreline: New York 3, Pittsburgh 2 (shootout) at Madison Square Garden on Saturday.
