Rangers, Igor Shesterkin bounce back in 4-1 win against Red Wings
Two nights after getting burned for six goals at Madison Square Garden, Igor Shesterkin bounced back with a vintage performance at home, lifting the New York Rangers to a 4-1 win against the Detroit Red Wings on Monday.
All in all, the Rangers played tighter defensive game than in their 6-5 overtime loss to the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday, though they did allow 11 high-danger chances in the second period. But Shesterkin was terrific, and finished with 31 saves.
“He was really good,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “Goaltenders are there to make big saves and he’s really good at that.”
With the win, the Rangers improved to 2-0-1 heading into a three-game road trip later this week.
Reilly Smith scored his first goal with the Rangers after being acquired in a trade with the Pittsburgh Penguins during the offseason. Mika Zibanejad had a goal and two assists; and Alexis Lafreniere and Chris Kreider also scored for New York.
Artemi Panarin had three assists in the win. The star forward has seven points (two goals, five assists) in the opening three games and is the fourth player in Rangers history to begin a season with three consecutive multiple-point games, joining Kreider (2016), Bernie Nicholls (1990) and Mike McEwen (1978).
Dylan Larkin scored the only goal for Detroit, which is 1-2-0 to start the season. Goalie Alex Lyon made 24 saves.
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New York Rangers 4 – Detroit Red Wings 1
Though they managed only one shot on goal in the opening 10 minutes of the first period, the Rangers still managed to score the game’s first goal. Lafreniere swept a quick pass from Panarin past Lyon from the right dot at 11:45 for his second goal of the season to make it 1-0.
It appeared that lead would hold up until the first intermission, but the Red Wings stunned the Rangers with a goal in the final seconds of the period. Larkin buried his second goal with 1.5 seconds remaining to tie things up.
Patrick Kane started the scoring play in the offensive zone with a no-look pass to Detroit defenseman Justin Holl, who carried along right wing before zipping a pass into the slot. Larkin was all alone and beat the buzzer with a snap shot past Shesterkin.
There was no beating Shesterkin in the second period, though. The Rangers goalie was outstanding, stopping all 14 shots he faced in the middle 20 minutes. Included were seven saves during one Detroit power play early in the second period, and an absolute gem of a glove save against J.T. Compher, who was all alone in front of the net in the final minutes of the period.
Lyon was good at the other end of the ice, making nine saves, including stellar ones in the second against Victor Mancini, Vincent Trocheck and Will Cuylle. But Kreider netted a power-play goal at 17:05 to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.
Trocheck won an offensive-zone face-off, and then the puck was worked quickly from Adam Fox to Panarin to Zibanejad, and finally to Kreider, who completed the pretty sequence by deflecting a cross-ice pass into the net. It was Kreider’s third goal in three games this season.
The Rangers nearly replicated the Red Wings’ last second heroics, with a similar goal, but Fox’s backhand shot that eluded Lyon came after time expired, and the score remained 2-1.
Another clutch face-off win in the offensive zone led to a Rangers goal early in the third period. This time it was Zibanejad winning one in the right circle, allowing Smith to swoop in and rifle a shot far side past the blocker of Lyon to make it 3-1 at 4:51 of the third.
“It was nice to see Reilly get on the board with a shot like that,” Laviolette said.
Zibanejad added an empty-net goal for his first of the season to conclude the scoring at 18:38.
The Rangers and Red Wings will play a rematch in this home-and-home set Thursday at Little Caesars Arena.
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