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NEW YORK CITY — New York Rangers coach Gerard Gallant had a feeling heading into overtime of Game 7: If his team was going to eliminate the Pittsburgh Penguins and advance to the second round of the Stanley Cup playoffs, star winger Artemi Panarin would be the player to do it.
“He’s the guy, when it gets to overtime, [where] I said to myself that he was going to score. If we get the winning goal, it’s going to be him. Sure enough, he makes a great play,” said Gallant.
Panarin fulfilled his coach’s precognitive notion, scoring a power-play goal at 4:46 of overtime to give the Rangers a 4-3 win at Madison Square Garden on Sunday night. They will face the Carolina Hurricanes in the second round, the first time New York has advanced past the first round since 2017.
It was the third straight come-from-behind victory for the Rangers, who tied the game on a Mika Zibanejad goal with 5:45 left in regulation. Goalie Igor Shesterkin made 42 saves to win his first playoff series. Zibanejad had a goal and two assists.
“Gutsy performance, coming back again. That whole ‘no quit New York’ think is pretty true for this group,” said defenseman Jacob Trouba.
That was especially true for Panarin, who struggled to create on offense during regulation and took two minor penalties.
“You know what? Honestly, the ice wasn’t great tonight. The puck was bouncing, and it affects his game more than other guys. People get frustrated at times. I think we saw a little of that,” Gallant said.
“I just thought he wasn’t having his best night. He tried hard. He competed and got some pucks out. He usually makes a lot of plays, and tonight it just wasn’t there,” he added. “But you just get a feeling with a guy like him that he can do that for you. And that’s what he does.”
Before the overtime goal, the Penguins were winning the special-teams battle in Game 7, after getting called out by coach Mike Sullivan for a lackluster performance in their Game 6 loss in Pittsburgh. Danton Heinen and Jake Guentzel…
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Source : espn
