Adam Fox continued to do special things, the first power-play unit struck twice within 11 minutes and 24 seconds, the second power-play unit recorded its second goal of the season and first since Feb. 18, Alexis Lafreniere got one, Kaapo Kakko got one and the Rangers had one of those explosive nights their elite talent can create in an 8-4 flaying of the Penguins.
And yet despite Tuesday’s cavalcade of offense, the most indispensible Blueshirt was likely Igor Shesterkin, who faced a season-high 44 shots that included 18 in a first period through which his excellence enabled the hijinks at the other end of the ice.
“You see what he does, he makes huge saves for us,” said Fox, whose shorthanded goal and two assists extended his consecutive point-scoring streak to 11 games (3-18-21). “Obviously if they get enough chances, they’re going to score some goals, but he always gives us a chance to win.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence when he’s in the net.”
Shesterkin, who has started four straight for the first time in his NHL career and six of seven since returning March 25 from the groin strain that sidelined him for three weeks, is emitting the same aura he did last season when his early January promotion ignited a 16-6 run.
The netminder protected a very early 1-0 lead (Colin Blackwell, who else, at 1:35) by poking the puck off Colton Sceviour’s stick alone in front at 5:45 before making a sparkling glove save on Evan Rodrigues’ left-circle wrister just over a minute later. There was another big stop on Jared McCann midway through the period with the Blueshirts now up 3-1.
“He’s definitely going through that stretch right now and he seems to be in a great groove,” Quinn said of Shesterkin, who had allowed two goals or fewer in 12 of his last 15 starts entering the match. “I felt bad that we gave up those two goals in the third, but he certainly gave us a chance early on to get a lead and build off of it.”
Build the Rangers did, turning 1-0 into 2-0 at 7:38 when Mika Zibanejad went to the net and slammed home a rebound of Pavel Buchnevich’s drive from the right wing. And then 2-0 became 3-0 at 9:58 when Artemi Panarin — off on one of his typical four-point (1-3) nights — buried a left-wing one-timer on the power play.
When Pittsburgh narrowed it to 3-1 at 10:38 on a McCann power-play goal, the Rangers extended their lead to 4-1 at 19:42 on Ryan Strome’s power-play goal that helped usher netminder Tristan Jarry to the bench once the period expired. Lafreniere scored a clever goal with a juke and tuck around the net to extend the lead to 5-1 at 12:20 of the second.
The Penguins made it 5-2 at the end of the period but the Blueshirts kept attacking in a game of wide-open spaces that featured one rush attempt after another. Kakko got a power-play goal at 6:10 of the third for a 6-2 lead by going to the net to redirect a Jacob Trouba point drive after winning a battle on the wall. When Pittsburgh narrowed the gap to 6-3, Fox scored a shortie from the slot by converting a lovely Zibanejad feed. That left it to Buchnevich to put the cherry on the cream on top of the whole shebang with the 8-3 goal.
“You know, you have those nights where it seems like the puck goes in no matter what you’re doing,” said Zibanejad, whose team has won 9-0, 8-3 and now 8-4 over an 11-game span. “We did that tonight.”
Quinn’s tinkering with the personnel produced results. Blackwell, elevated to the right wing spot alongside Batman and Robin — er, Strome and Panarin — went to the net immediately and scored his 10th goal by banking one in off a Pittsburgh defender.
The reunited Lafreniere-Chytil-Kakko combination played an energetic game despite some issues in the defensive zone and was on for 12:40 at five-on-five, the most ice-time of any of the club’s forward units. Indeed, the Panarin-Strome-Blackwell trio got only 6:43 at full strength as the coach managed the game to the scoreboard.
The Rangers gave up way too much. But that was the game in which they took much more. They’re not perfect, not even close, but they are 8-3-2 in their last 13 and still in the hunt for the postseason, five points back of the Bruins, who hold two games in hand.
“We’re trying to make a push for the playoffs and there are only so many [18] games left,” said Fox. “We’re a hungry team. Everyone is hungry.”
Even after gorging on Tuesday night.
