Rangers force winner-take-all
Chris Kreider’s long slap shot bounced over Louis Domingue and into the net with 1:28 left and the New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 Friday night to push their thrilling first-round series to a deciding Game 7.
Kreider’s second goal 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 for the Rangers 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 the 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. His status going forward is uncertain. For most of the early going in Game 6, it seemed the Penguins would find a way to advance without him.
Carter used his six-foot-three frame to stretch for a backhand tap in front of the net that slipped by Shesterkin 14:12 into the first.
Rust then made it 2-0 just over 90 seconds later when he blasted home a one-timer off a cross-ice feed from Jake Guentzel.
Pittsburgh has struggled at times to maintain momentum after building a multiple-goal advantage. It was much of the same in Game 6. Zibanejad led the charge, scoring twice in a span of 76 seconds to tie things up.
Panthers 4, Capitals 3 (OT)
Carter Verhaeghe wheeled his arm into a fist pump and, suddenly, two and a half decades of frustration for the Florida Panthers were over.
The forward — the hero of this series for and a game-tying decision — scored with 17:14 left in overtime period and the Panthers beat the Washington Capitals, 4-3, to win the series 4-2.
The drought is over. Florida is going to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs for the first time in 26 years.
When the Panthers last won a post-season series, Jonathan Huberdeau was two, Aleksander Barkov hadn’t yet celebrated his first birthday and Aaron Ekblad wasn’t even four months old.