Rangers stay alive with win over Pens
Rangers 5, Penguins 3: Chris Kreider’s long slap shot bounced over Louis Domingue and into the net with 1:28 left and visiting New York beat Pittsburgh on Friday night to push their thrilling firstround series to a deciding Game 7.
Kreider’s second of the game and fourth of the playoffs sent the series back to New York. Andrew Copp added an empty netter for good measure in the waning seconds. Game 7 is Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Mika Zibanejad had two goals and two assists and Adam Fox had four assists. Igor Shesterkin stopped 31 shots to win at PPG Paints Arena for the first time this series after getting chased by Pittsburgh in Games 3 and 4.
Bryan Rust, Evgeni Malkin and Jeff Carter scored for Pittsburgh. Domingue, who has become a local folk hero while filling in for injured Tristan Jarry and Casey DeSmith, made 33 saves but couldn’t get a handle on Kreider’s shot, which seemed to hit him high then popped up into the air and behind him before rolling into the net.
Pittsburgh played without captain Sidney Crosby, who sat out while dealing with an upper-body injury.
For most of the early going in Game 6, it seemed the Penguins would find a way to advance without him.
The Penguins throttled Shesterkin in Games 3 and 4, ending his night early in relatively easy wins. The chants of “IIIIIIGOOORRRRR”
started before the opening puck dropped, and the roars only grew more incessant after Pittsburgh scored twice in the first period to take a quick lead.
Carter used his 6-foot-3 frame to stretch for a backhand tap in front of the net that slipped by Shesterkin 14:12 into the first, the 18-year veteran’s eight goals in 12 career playoff games since joining Pittsburgh at the 2021 trade deadline.
Panthers 4, Capitals 3 (OT): On the wrong side of a comeback effort this time, visiting Florida rebounded in overtime and made sure they wouldn’t need to go home to finish their first-round series.
Carter Verhaeghe scored the OT winner
to send the Panthers to the second round by beating Washington in Game 6. It’s the franchise’s first playoff series victory since 1996 when Florida reached the Stanley Cup Final.
The Panthers are still eight wins from getting back to the final, but they will have home-ice advantage for their next series against either the cross-state rival Tampa Bay Lightning or the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Florida looked to be on the verge of a regulation victory when Gustav Forsling tripped Nicklas Backstrom with 1:09 left in the third period. T.J. Oshie scored 6 seconds into the Washington power play to send the sellout crowd of over 18,000 into a frenzy.