In New York, the Rangers were coming off a letdown of a loss to the Pitts burgh Penguins from Tuesday night, New York lost, 4-3, in triple overtime.
On Thursday night, the Rangers got even in a 5-2 win in Game 2.
Andrew Copp got the game going for New York with bis second goal of the series for a 1-+0 lead to New York.
Igor Shesterkin made 39 saves to get the Rangers win.
“He made three or four real good saves in the third (period) for sure, early on … so that was huge for us because that was probably the worst four or five minutes we had in the whole game. That was big,” New York coach Gerard Gallant said.
Game 3 is Saturday in Pittsburgh.
Jake Guentzel had a goal in the first period for the Pens to tie the game, 1-1.
In the middle frame, the Rangers got goals from Ryan Strome, off the power play, and Chris Kreider for a 3-1 advantage.
Sidney Crosby scored before the end of the second period to draw Pittsburgh to 3-2 headed for the third period.
“I thought 5-on-5 tonight, for the most part, we were pretty good,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think the one area where we need to improve and get better is on the special teams on both sides. We’ve got to do a better job there.”
Pittsburgh outshot the Rangers 16-9 in the third period, but Shesterkin held them off the board.
Artemi Panarin hit for a goal to give New York a 54-2 lead.
Panarin was below the goal line after missing on a shot from the left wing, drove deep and centered the puck to the crease where it deflected off Pittsburgh defenseman, Mike Matheson.
The goal came at 8:02 of the third and deflated the Pens after they dominated much of the play to that point in the period. Panarin was slashed twice before he sent the pick to the slot, with no call.
Panarin had three points on the night with two assists.
Frank Vatrano scored less than two minutes later for the 5-2 final.
“It’s what we talked about yesterday, playing a simple game and being hard on their defense and using our speed to our advantage,” Vatrano said. “There’s real momentum swings no matter who you’re playing against. You have to learn how to weather those and when you get the momentum shifts, you make sure you’re bearing down on your chances. I think that’s what we did tonight.”
Louis Domingue made 35 saves in the Pittsburgh loss.
“He made some big saves, especially when it was a one, two-goal difference. That kept us in it,” Crosby said. “He’s competing and giving us a chance. It would’ve been nice to give him some help and tie it up and see what happened.”
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