KAKKO WITH THE KO
Rookie nets OT winner and first two-goal game as Rangers roar RANGERS 3 PENGUINS 2
The Rangers have always known they had talent. So it wasn’t entirely unexpected, though jaws hit the Garden floor, when 18-year-old rookie Kaapo Kakko buried a terrific feed from 21-yearold rookie Adam Fox at 2:24 of the three-on-three overtime to give the Rangers a 3-2 win over the Penguins on Tuesday night.
But how about the final seven minutes of regulation in a tie game, when the emergent Ryan Lindgren went tooth and nail — and got the better of it — with headliner Evgeni Malkin in front of the Rangers’ net, followed up by his partner
Fox coming in for a final shove on the future Hall of Famer? Or how about the shift to open overtime from Chris Kreider, Tony DeAngelo, and Artemi Panarin, lasting 2:06, but never resulting in a legitimate scoring chance against?
More? How about Kakko flying up the left wing, managing to hold off the big-bodied Nick Bjugstad, and keeping the puck — while falling down?
All of it, so much more than talent. All of it, adding up to the Rangers (8-6-2) taking at least one point in six out of the past seven games (5-1-1) since top-line center Mika Zibanejad went down to injury.
The Penguins (10-6-2) might not have had their top center in Sidney Crosby, nursing a lowerbody injury back in Pittsburgh. But regardless, this was a heartening performance for a young Rangers team that remains riddled with inconsistency, but ripe with hope.
“You never want to be without your star guys, your veterans. But we’re not coming in here thinking we can’t contribute,” said Fox, who also added the third goal of his career when he roofed one after a terrific cross-ice feed from
Panarin with 9.3 seconds left in the first period to give his team a 2-0 lead.
“We have a lot of young guys, and a lot of guys expected to do some things and help win some games,” Fox said. “We’re always looking to contribute.”
The game, and the Rangers, had begun to flatline through a second period when their 2-0 lead evaporated with Pittsburgh goals from Justin Schultz and Jared McCann.
That was The Bad Rangers, as opposed to The Good Rangers, who opened the game with their hair on fire, outshooting the Penguins 9-1 at one point. They were staked to a lead on Kakko’s brilliant breakaway goal at 6:24.
But with the game tied at two, Malkin got to the front of the net, and Lindgren was having none of it. The cross-checks to the back were traded like the two were old postseason opponents — or like Lindgren was a younger version of Marc Staal. It woke the fans up, too. When Lindgren moved on, Malkin shoved him in the back — and in came Fox, for a shove of his own on Malkin.
Intimidation was nowhere to be seen, not for this pair barely able to have a legal drink.
“I like getting into it with people, I’m very competitive,” Lindgren said. “And a guy like Evgeni Malkin, I’m not going to shy down from that.”
Lindgren didn’t even know Fox backed him up, but found out in the locker room after the game.
“I heard the crowd roaring, so I knew something was going on,” Fox said. “Then I saw [Malkin] give Ryan a little shove, so I wasn’t trying to knock him over with mine — just let him know I was there a little bit. Ryan competes, he’s an energy guy. And you feed off that.”
Of course, competitiveness alone only gets a team so far. Goalie Alexandar Georgiev, himself a hopeful at 23 years old, was forced to battle back from the two goals against, and he turned aside all 12 shots he saw in the third period. It allowed the talent to shine through, with Kakko a marvel all night, Fox and Lindgren carrying the load on the backend, and the overall inconsistency moving to the background at least for one night.
It was a glimpse into why the organization is hopeful for the future.
“It definitely gives us a lot of confidence,” Fox said.