Rangers rally again to win Game 7 on Panarin OT GWG, Carolina next (Game 7)

Game 7

Rangers rally again to win Game 7 on Panarin OT GWG, Carolina next

By Jan Levine

May 16, 2022 • 8:15 am

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The resilient Rangers found a way, again. Down 3-2 heading to the third, Mika Zibanejad tied the contest with 5:45 left with a one-timer to the right of the slot, top-shelf over Tristan Jarry. In overtime, a brilliant play by K'Andre Miller drew the penalty. On the power play, the much-maligned, at least in this series, Artemi Panarin somehow snuck a shot short-side past John Marino and Kris Letang and over Jarry's glove at the 4:46 mark for the game-winner. New York rallied in Games 5, 6 and 7 to earn victories and the right to face Carolina in the next round.

Game recap:

The overtime game-winner by Panarin, reactions and call on MSG:

Game 7 initial and historical perspective plus scoresheet:

Next round:

A few thoughts: 1) igor Shesterkin - if this wasn’t a Henrik Lundqvist moment, especially at MSG, unsure what would be. But to me, thinking about this more last night, his effort was more reminiscent of Mike Richter in Game 6 of the ECF in 1994 against the Devils. Manning the net for a team totally outplayed, Igor - like Richter - kept his team in the game, allowing New York a chance to come back and win.

Shesterkin made at least half a dozen brilliant saves, making up for poor defensive structure in front of him. The numbers below evidence just how much the ice was tilted to Pittsburgh and the brilliance of Igor. The number of saves doesn’t do full justice to just how good he was between the pipes.

Advanced metrics:

2) Mika Magic - with just four assists the first five games of the series and broadly outplayed by Sidney Crosby, Mika had his moment in Games 6 and 7. Aided Friday by the absence of Crosby, Zib had two goals and two assists. But he was just getting started.

Mika was the engine that drove New York yesterday. He first assisted on Chris Kreider’s marker, giving New York a lead. Down 3-2, he made the play in his own zone to help move the attack to the offensive zone, then created the turnover in that zone to trigger the attack. Gerard Gallant shift of Alexis Lafreniere and Andrew Copp to play with Mika - hey, look a mid-game adjustment - and he kept mixing and matching to find any combination that worked, paid dividends.

Zib found a sliver of open space and blasted the puck over Jarry’s glove. Jarry, who came into the post game press conference with an ice pack on his right foot, clearly labored as the game went on. He looked to be overcompensating for the foot, focused on stopping the low shot, enabling New York to beat him up high three times in total and twice late. For good measure, Zibanejad assisted on the game winner and finished the seven-game series with three goals and eight assists.

3) Panarin - brutal much of the game and the series, he got his redemption moment. From his post game comments and his body language during the contest, Panarin knew that he hadn’t played well. In addition, he noted that Pittsburgh was allowing him to shoot and he should have listened to the voices in the locker room that reinforced that opinion.

Panarin had a Pouliot with an offensive zone penalty earlier in the game. In addition, he just looked off Sunday and all series, bringing up the view that the late-season injury was still an issue. Panarin found just enough space, aided by John Marino turning sideways when trying to block the shot, same with Kris Letang, who was engaged with Kreider in front, allowing a puck sized space for the shot to beat Jarry.

4) Defense - Gallant rolled with four defensemen, as Justin Braun saw just 8:28 of action and Braden Schneider 6:51 of ice time. Unsure I understand why Schneider played such few minutes because I thought he had a really good first period. In addition, the top-four were far from great in the win.

Adam Fox had another rough game and he should thank his lucky stars Ryan Lindgren was so good. Jacob Trouba had a double Pouliot, leading to the goal that tied the game at one in the first. K’Andre Miller made up for an average game at best by using his speed to earn the power play in overtime. In the next round, Gallant will have to balance the minutes better and the top four will have to play much better. But that’s for tomorrow, not today.

5) Pittsburgh was basically at full strength. Crosby returned from his injury - unsure if it was a concussion, given all the comments yesterday - and played well. Rickard Rakell was in the lineup as well. Same as noted above with Jarry. Brian Dumoulin was the only was who reminded out.

The Penguins were the better team but the Rangers, thanks to Igor, remained in the game. On Zib’s goal, Marcus Pettersson did have his helmet knocked off. The same happened against the Isles last year and reportedly, the Pens were told and should have known Pettersson could have just put back on his helmet and stayed in, not necessarily forced to leave the ice. But he did and Letang jumped in, but the D structure was impacted. Coach Mike Sullivan noted that Laf “intentionally… knocked off Pettersson’s helmet, you can imagine my view.

6) The playoff ride may end this upcoming round. If so, there of course will be disappointment. But the thrilling comeback and experience team has gained should benefit moving them moving forward. Once again, the come from behind Rangers - who had 27 such victories in the regular season - figured out a way to do so in Games 5, 6 and 7. As I wrote, we are all Rangers, this certainly was the case again Sunday.

#NoQuitinNY

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