Rangers Win Game 7 Thriller, Advance to Second Round

What a night on Broadway. 

The New York Rangers blew the roof off of Madison Square Garden on Sunday night as Artemi Panarin scored the overtime winner against the rival Pittsburgh Penguins to send his team to the second round of the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2017. 

The Penguins didn’t go down without a fight, though. 

Mike Sullivan’s squad fired 45 shots at the consensus Vezina favorite Igor Shesterkin, taking a 3-2 lead into the third period that would ultimately float away as Mika Zbanejad tied things up with 5:45 to go. 

Not only did the Penguins throw every puck at the opposing goaltender, but they threw their best roster at him, too. Sidney Crosby made his return to the lineup just in time for the do-or-die grudge match after missing games five and six with an upper-body injury, while goaltender Tristan Jarry made his playoff debut after suffering a lower-body injury on April 14th. 

Jarry put in an admirable performance, all things considered, making a few key saves and giving the Penguins, who had been rolling with third-stringer Louis Domingue since the third overtime period of Game 1, a chance to win. 

Ultimately, though, Jarry did not appear healthy as the game wore on, and those suspicions were more or less confirmed when he held his post-game availability with an ice bag taped to his foot, and then appeared to have trouble walking back to the Penguins’ locker room when it was done. 

With their ticket now booked, the Rangers will face off against the Carolina Hurricanes in their second-round series, taking on a few familiar faces in Brady Skjei and Tony DeAngelo, the latter of which was effectively booted off the team midway through the 2021 season for multiple clashes with his own teammates. 

Tempers will assuredly run high in a series that looks to bring plenty of star power to the table. While the Rangers benefited from home-ice advantage versus the Penguins, that’s a luxury they won’t have this time around, with the division-winning Hurricanes playing host when things kick-off. 

You certainly won’t want to miss it.