Rangers score 6, shut out Penguins in season opener
Kreider gets 2 goals, Shesterkin makes 31 saves
By
Wes Crosby
NHL.com Independent Correspondent
The shutout was Shesterkin’s 16th in the NHL.
"Feel good. We got two points. So great job,” Shesterkin said. “They tried to go hard at the net in the first 10 minutes. So we did a great job in front of me. ... I just tried to play my game."
Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and an assist, and Artemi Panarin and Jacob Trouba each had two assists for the Rangers. Filip Chytil scored his first regular-season goal since March 28, 2023, for New York; he did not have a goal in 10 games last season before sustaining a suspected concussion Nov. 2.
Tristan Jarry made 35 saves for the Penguins.
“Obviously, we didn’t have the start of the season that we would have liked,” Pittsburgh coach Mike Sullivan said. “It’s a hard one to evaluate. I thought the start of the game, we played pretty well, the first, whatever, 13 minutes or so. ... I think it’s probably premature at this point to overreact. But certainly, we’re disappointed with the result tonight.”
Sam Carrick put New York ahead 1-0 on its first shot on goal at 2:24 of the first period, holding off Pittsburgh defenseman Kris Letang to tip in a point shot from Trouba. Carrick made his Rangers debut after signing a three-year contract July 1.
Will Cuylle appeared to extend the lead at 9:48 but his goal was overturned following a Penguins challenge for offside.
Lafreniere then made it 2-0 at 17:23. After taking a stretch pass from Panarin, he dragged the puck around a sliding Marcus Pettersson for a wrist shot to the blocker side from the left face-off circle.
“I think we came out pretty strong,” Jarry said. “Just got a little loose at times. A lot of odd-man rushes. If I make a save on that second one, I think it at least helps the guys stay in it. ... It’s obviously tough. It’s not the outcome you want.
“It’s a long season, though. So we have to find our legs. I think we’ll be better from this one. We’ll learn from it.”
Kreider pushed it to 3-0 at 19:48 with a wrist shot from the slot off a rebound from Trouba’s one-timer.
“We had to get through the first 10 or 12 minutes. 'Shesty' made some really big saves at that point,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said. “Then the last, I thought, maybe, eight minutes of the first period, I thought we turned it on offensively. Able to generate and were able to carry that through the second period as well.”
Chytil made it 4-0 at 9:39 of the second period. He took a drop pass from Cuylle for a snap shot that went in off the crossbar.
"We need every single person in this locker room to play 100 percent every night,” Chytil said. “I think we did it tonight. That was a great win tonight.”
Kreider scored short-handed to extend the lead to 5-0 at 11:35 of the third period. He beat Letang to the puck and slipped it through the five-hole.
Vincent Trocheck scored with a wrist shot at 16:59 for the 6-0 final.
“Just got down and tried to take chances to get back into the game,” Penguins captain Sidney Crosby said. “They’re a team that if you take chances and give them those looks, they’re going to put them in. So we got behind and chased the game.
“This has nothing to do with last year. It’s a matter of, early on in the season, a little bit of adversity, and we didn’t find a way to stick with our game. We tried to get it all back at once and we found out the hard way.”
NOTES: The Rangers recorded a shutout in their season opener for the first time since Oct. 12, 1956, when Gump Worsley made 31 saves against the Chicago Black Hawks in a 3-0 win. ... New York defenseman Victor Mancini had one shot on goal and one block in 17:27 of ice time in his NHL debut. ... Forward Reilly Smith had an assist and played 14:54 in his Rangers debut after being traded from the Penguins on July 1. ... Pittsburgh forward Rutger McGroarty had one shot on goal and played 12:20 in his NHL debut after being acquired in a trade from the Winnipeg Jets on Aug. 22. ... Defenseman Erik Karlsson played 21:01, second on the Penguins behind Letang (24:27), after missing most of training camp with an upper-body injury.
