Rangers penguins game 7
By: Dinner
Rangers Penguins Game 7 Takeaways 5/15
Ladies & Gentleman the New York Rangers are one fucking step closer to the Stanley Cup. This team has embraced the hell out of their “No Quit NY” motto and it has clearly paid off. In fact with tonights OT win the Rangers became the first team in Stanley Cup Playoff history to record three consecutive comeback wins in elimination games within the same series. What an absolutely electric series out of the Rangers and what a fucking choke by the Penguins. I can’t even imagine being in the shoes of those bum ass Penguins fans right now. But let’s talk about the game.
The Rangers struck first on a 2 on 1 breakaway goal set up by Mika Zibanejad who dished it over to Chris Kreider for a beautiful one timer. The Penguins later tied the game on a power play goal that literally no one even noticed until the NHL uppers sounded the horn with under 2 minutes left in the 1st. The Rangers would later trail 1-2 & 2-3 with a goal from K’Andre Miller midway through the second, until 5:45 left in the third where the hot hands of Mika Zibanejad would end up tying it & force overtime. In overtime the Rangers were able to draw a hooking penalty against Penguins forward Brock McGinn which would ultimately end up giving the Rangers a power play that would end the Penguins season. Artemi Panarin had been frustrated all night but Gallant ended up drawing a play for the Superstar forward that would give him the go ahead power play goal that sent Madison Square Garden into a frenzy, ripping a shot past Penguins goalie Tristan Jarry to give the Rangers the 4-3 victory.
The fact that the Penguins would sit Louis Domingue and play Tristan Jarry was a bold move for Game 7. Jarry hasn’t seen any action in well over a month and to pull Domingue like that is fucking nuts. Domingue has been a complete surprise this postseason, the third string netminder for Pittsburgh was thrown into Game 1 during the third OT and has been able to help the Penguins take that 3-1series lead in the first place, I truly do not understand the decision, Domingue has been playing pretty well all series and arguably because of this move I believe that this game was a loss right from puck drop.
The Penguins had a number of great opportunities to extend their one-goal leads, but Shesterkin had other plans, feeding off of the rowdy MSG crowd he was able to consistently keep the Blue shirts within 1 goal and came up big in OT as well. He looked shaky at times but I think this series certainly boosted his confidence.
The Rangers will be taking on the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round of the playoffs, with Game 1 on Wednesday Night. The Rangers & Hurricanes have only met in the playoffs once back in 2020, when the league added a Qualifying Round to the postseason format, due to the season not being able to be fully complete because of the covid stoppage. The Rangers would end up getting swept 3-0. Stay on the lookout for my series preview tomorrow.
