Rangers, Panthers get wins to even series
NEW YORK — Artemi Panarin and Frank Vatrano each had a goal and two assists and the New York Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-2 in Game 2 on Thursday night to even the best-of-seven first-round series.
Chris Kreider, Andrew Copp and Ryan Strome also scored for the Rangers. Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves two nights after stopping 79 shots in a tripleovertime loss in Game 1.
Sidney Crosby had a goal and an assist, and Jake Guentzel also scored for the Penguins. Louis Domingue, getting the start after replacing the injured Casey DeSmith in the second overtime of Game 1, finished with 34 saves.
Game 3 is Saturday night in Pittsburgh.
With the Rangers leading 3-2 after 40 minutes, the Penguins came out strong in the third period with the first nine shots on goal. Shesterkin stopped a tip by Bryan Rust and then made a diving save to deny a slap shot by Evgeni Malkin in the opening minute of the period. Shesterkin also stopped a slap shot by Guentzel 3 1/2 minutes in and then had a diving save on Crosby’s deflection nearly 30 seconds later.
Panarin then extended the lead to 4-2 when his centering pass from beyond the goal line deflected off Penguins defenseman Mike Matheson and past Domingue at 8:02.
Vatrano gave the Rangers a three-goal lead when he got around Matheson in the right circle, skated in and beat Domingue inside the right post at 9:49.
Shesterkin was down on the ice for several minutes following a collision with Pittsburgh’s Jeff Carter as the goalie was trying to get back in position from behind the net with about two minutes left.
The Rangers took a 2-1 lead during a power play early in the second period when Adam Fox’s slap shot through traffic was deflected by Strome in front and through Domingue’s skates at 2:59.
Minutes later, the Penguins had an oddman rush but ust fired a shot wide off the end boards, and Crosby’s sharp-angle attempt from the left side on the rebound was kicked aside by Shesterkin. That got the Madison Square Garden crowd, roaring since Strome’s go-ahead goal, to break out in chants of “I-gor! I-gor!”
Kreider pushed the
Rangers’ lead to 3-1. He deflected Frank Vatrano’s point shot past Domingue for his second goal of the series at 7:54.
Crosby pulled the Penguins within one on a rush as he scored from the middle on the rebound of Bryan Rust’s backhander with 1:26 left in the middle period.
The Rangers outshot the Penguins 14-11 in a fast-paced and physical first period.
Copp got the Rangers on the scoreboard first again as he got a pass from Panarin and quickly fired a shot past Domingue from the inside edge of the right circle at 6:50. It was his second goal of the series.
Guentzel tied it with his third of the series after a turnover by the Rangers in the neutral zone. Guentzel got the rebound of a shot by Marcus Pettersson in front and fired a slap shot past Shesterkin at 8:52.
Florida 5, Washington 1
SUNRISE, Fla. (AP) — Aleksander Barkov and Carter Verhaeghe each had a goal and an assist and the Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitals 5-1 on Thursday night to even the Eastern Conference first-round series at a game apiece.
Aaron Ekblad, Anton Lundell and Mason Marchment also scored for Florida, the top overall seed in the Stanley Cup playoffs. Sergei Bobrovsky stopped 26 shots.
Nicklas Backstrom scored for Washington. Vitek Vanecek gave up five goals on 18 shots in the first two periods, and Ilya Samsonov went into the Capitals’ net for the third period — stopping all 17 shots he faced in the final 20 minutes.
The series shifts to
Washington, with Game 3 on Saturday and Game 4 on Monday night.
It was just Florida’s sixth win in its last 19 home playoff games going back to 1996, and matched the biggest victory margin in franchise playoff history. Florida beat Boston 6-2 in Game 2 of the first round of the 1996 playoffs, the season in which the Panthers went to the Stanley Cup final, and won 5-1 in Pittsburgh later that season in the East finals.
Florida did the bulk of its damage Thursday in a pair of short bursts — two goals in a span of 1:38 late in the first period, then two more goals in a span of 2:08 late in the second period.
The Panthers were almost entirely bottled up for the first 14:30, getting held to two shots in that span — just the third time in 84 games this season that they were held to such a low number that deep into a game.
But the Panthers eventually got a break. Or rather, a bounce.
Ekblad opened the scoring with a shot that hit a Washington stick, took a big bounce off the ice and got past Vanecek. Barkov tapped in a pass that came through the crease from Jonathan
Huberdeau shortly after, and it was 2-0 Florida after one.
Undeterred by a tough angle, Backstrom scored on a power play at 2:44 of the second to cut the lead in half, but Marchment restored the two-goal edge for Florida just 27 seconds later — the Panthers’ third goal of the night on just seven shots to that point.
Lundell got his goal by cashing in a give-andgo with Sam Reinhart, then Verhaeghe let fly with a wrist shot that got over Vanecek’s glove for the 5-1 lead.
That undoubtedly played a role in the Capitals giving Samsonov the third period, and just as undoubtedly brought back memories of last season when Washington used three goalies in six playoff games thanks to a combination of injuries and COVID-related issues.
The Capitals were without Tom Wilson, who left Game 1 shortly after scoring the opening goal of the series and did not return because of a lower-body injury. His status is listed as day-today by the Capitals, who recalled forward Brett Leason from Hershey of the AHL earlier Thursday. Leason made his NHL playoff debut.