PITTSBURGH — The Penguins will get a chance Wednesday to wave goodbye to Igor Shesterkin.
The rattled Russian may even get a nice view from the New York Rangers bench.
In a 7-2 win Monday that somehow felt even more lopsided than the score would suggest, the Penguins chased the once mighty Shesterkin for the second straight game. He lasted just two periods as the Penguins took a 3-1 series lead.
Game 5 is Wednesday at Madison Square Garden. That will be Pittsburgh’s first close-out opportunity in a series since the first round of the 2018 playoffs.
Will Shesterkin be back in goal for the Rangers after he gave up 10 goals in the three postseason periods played at PPG Paints Arena? That is an open question, one that seemed unfathomable before the series head to Pittsburgh a few days ago.
He was so dominant against the Penguins, and everyone else really, in the regular season. And after he shut them out in their final meeting during the regular season, Shesterkin waved the Penguins off the ice at Madison Square Garden.
After getting pulled Saturday, Shesterkin looked relaxed at the Rangers’ morning skate. At one point, he lingered in the neutral zone, practicing toe-drag moves and waiting for openings to lob long shots at New York’s No. 2 and 3 goalies. Eventually, he got bored, fist-bumped two teammates and hopped off the ice.
About eight hours later, the Penguins shoved Shesterkin back outside of his comfort zone, with another rowdy crowd at PPG Paints Arena egging them on.
Those fans, who were a factor in their wild Game 3 win, were all over Shesterkin all night. Even before the puck dropped. They loudly booed when both teams were still in their dressing rooms and Shesterkin was announced as New York’s starter. The “Eeeee-gorrr!” chants started during the first shift of the night.
For the third time in four games, the Rangers scored first. Alex Lafreniere walked down the middle untouched and beat Louis Domingue with a long-range wrister. He went glove-side, a clear target for the Rangers against Domingue.
Sidney Crosby tied it up on the power play midway through the first period.
Pittsburgh’s first-stringers were out of sorts in the first three games of the series. But on that play, they followed the lead of the second unit, which clicked twice in Game 3. Kris Letang just let one rip from the point with a pair of Penguins parked in front. Jake Guentzel tipped it and Crosby jammed in the rebound.
After the Penguins controlled play in the first period, the Crosby line blew open the game early in the second period by scoring two goals 24 seconds apart.
Crosby won a faceoff back to Mike Matheson, whose shot from the point hit Frank Vatrano and slowed down as it skipped toward the net. But Shesterkin, one of the NHL’s best at tracking pucks through traffic, was left flailing at the air.
Before the PPG Paints Arena crowd had stopped to take a breath, Jake Guentzel tapped in a beautiful pass from Bryan Rust to push Pittsburgh’s lead to 3-1.
Guentzel, Crosby’s long-time wingman, has been spectacular all series. He scored in every game and his five goals in four games are tied for the NHL lead.
Crosby, meanwhile, is tied with Boston’s Brad Marchand for the most points.
At 34, the captain has been incredible throughout this series, putting his imprint on every single game. In the playoff opener, he kick-started the Pittsburgh comeback. He factored into both Penguins goals in Game 2. And Crosby helped them smother the Rangers down in the stretch Saturday to seize the series lead.
Crosby had three points Monday, giving him multiple points in all four games.
The Penguins stayed on Shesterkin. And when Mark Friedman, suiting up with Brian Dumoulin still out, netted his first career playoff goal midway through the second, it looked like he wanted to crawl inside of his cage and hide for a while.
After a fluky goal by New York’s Adam Fox, Danton Heinen and Jeff Carter scored on deflections to make it 6-2 and get Shesterkin pulled to start the third.
He was borderline bulletproof in Games 1 and 2, stopping 118 of 124 shots. But he just hasn’t looked right since Jeff Carter bowled him over late in Game 2.
Evgeni Malkin scored on his replacement, Alexander Georgiev, in the third.
At the other end, Mike Sullivan could have strapped on the pads and the Penguins would have been OK. One way to alleviate concerns about playing a third-stringer is to spot him a gigantic lead and not let the other guys near your net. The Rangers had just three shots from the slot through 40 minutes, per Sportlogiq.
Louis Domingue had to make just 22 saves to earn his third win of the series.
