Rangers thump Penguins 6-0 in season-opening triumph
In a thoroughly dominating performance, the New York Rangers raised the curtain on their 2024-25 season with a resounding 6-0 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins at PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday.
Chris Kreider scored twice and Igor Shesterkin became the first Rangers goalie to post a shutout in a season opener since Gump Worsley in 1956. It was the largest margin of victory in a season opening game in Rangers history.
Shesterkin made 29 saves to earn the 16th shutout of his NHL career.
Alexis Lafreniere had a goal and an assist for New York, which also received two assists apiece from Jacob Trouba and Artemi Panarin. Sam Carrick, Filip Chytil and Vincent Trocheck scored the other goals for the Rangers, who fired 41 shots on goal Wednesday.
Tristan Jarry received little support from his Penguins teammates, finishing with 35 saves.
Related: Rangers legend Sam Rosen named 2024 Lester Patrick Trophy honoree
New York Rangers 6 – Pittsburgh Penguins 0
It didn’t take long for the Rangers to break the ice and score their first goal of the season. Carrick — who signed this summer as a free agent — deflected a right-point drive by Trouba up and over Jarry’s blocker at 2:24 of the first period to make it 1-0. Jonny Brodzinski, in the lineup ahead of Matt Rempe — who was a healthy scratch — won a puck battle in the corner and got the puck to Trouba to start the scoring play.
The Rangers thought they had doubled their lead midway through the period when Will Cuylle buried a right-wing shot off of a neat cross-ice pass by Kaapo Kakko. However, Cuylle was ruled a hair offsides on the play after a video review and the score remained 1-0.
Shesterkin was another reason why it was still 1-0. He was tested often after Carrick’s goal and made a string of sharp saves, notably one from the slot by Cody Glass. The Penguins sprinted to a 10-3 shots advantage before the Rangers turned things decidedly in their favor.
A terrific defensive effort by Panarin led directly to a Lafreniere goal at 17:23 that made it 2-0. On a backcheck in his own end, Panarin stripped the puck from a Penguins player and slid it up left wing through the neutral zone. Lafreniere caught up to the puck, drove to the net, pulled the puck in past a diving a defensemen and snapped his shot through Jarry’s five-hole to double New York’s advantage.
Kreider’s putback of a Trouba shot made it 3-0 at 19:48. Linemate Reilly Smith picked up an assist on the goal in his Rangers debut, and against the team that traded him to the Rangers this past July 1.
The Rangers tacked on another goal in the second period to carry a 4-0 lead into the second intermission. Chytil wired a shot from the right circle far side past Jarry for his first goal since the 2023 Stanley Cup Playoffs at 9:39 to make it 4-0. Chytil followed Cuylle, who fanned on his shot driving to the net, and quickly snapped the loose puck into the net.
Chytil played only 10 games last season because of an upper-body injury believed to be a concussion. The 25-year-old had six assists, but was without a goal, in those 10 games. He returned six months after the injury to play in six postseason games, and was held without a point. So his goal Wednesday, was clearly a sweet one for Chytil.
Though things weren’t so great for the Penguins, it could’ve been much worse. Jarry made three outstanding saves in that second period — one on a Kakko breakaway, another to deny a point-blank shorthanded chance for Trocheck, and a slam-dunk power-play try by Kreider.
For his part, Shesterkin kept the shutout alive with two excellent stops in the middle stanza, the first against Evgeni Malkin on a one-timer and the second on a wide-open chance for Anthony Beauvillier.
Shesterkin caught a break early in the third period, when defenseman Matt Grzelcyk rang a left-wing shot off the post.
Kreider made it 5-0, scoring a shorthanded goal at 11:35 of the third. He danced around Penguins defenseman Kris Letang and scored on a breakaway, though the puck rolled off his stick before he actually shot it — but it rolled between Jarry’s pads. Kreider’s second of the game was also his 10th career shorthanded goal.
Then Trocheck put a capper on the opening-night festivities by burying a rebound at 16:59.
The game also featured the NHL debut by Rangers rookie defenseman Victor Mancini, who logged 17:27 on the third pair with Zac Jones in his first game.
What will the Rangers do for an encore after this drubbing of a division rival? We’ll find out Saturday, when the Rangers host the Utah Hockey Club in their home opener at Madison Square Garden.
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