NEW YORK — Throughout the 2021-22 season, the Rangers have responded to nearly every challenge and bit of adversity with resilience.
That trend has apparently carried into the playoffs, at least for one night.
Coming off a devastating triple-overtime loss to the Penguins in Game 1 of their first-round series, the Blueshirts were in desperate need of a Game 2 victory to avoid falling into a difficult hole to crawl out of.
They got the job done with a 5-2 win Thursday at Madison Square Garden to send the series to Pittsburgh knotted at 1-1.
Both teams were shorthanded after Tuesday’s grueling 105:58 contest.
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The Rangers were missing defenseman Ryan Lindgren (lower-body injury) and forward Barclay Goodrow, who was held out of the lineup with an undisclosed injury.
The Penguins are even more banged up. Starting goalie Tristan Jarry has been out since April 14 with a broken foot and backup Casey DeSmith left Game 1 with a lower-body injury. That left third-stringer Louis Domingue to make the start in Game 2, with defenseman Brian Dumoulin and forward Rickard Rakell also sitting out with undisclosed injuries.
All things considered, Domingue held his own. He made a few highlight-worthy saves, none more so than a lunging first-period glove save on Mika Zibanejad. But the Rangers were able to put enough chinks in his armor to even the series.
The first goal came from Andrew Copp on a feed from Artemi Panarin just 6:50 into the game. Copp put the one-timer past Domingue’s left pad for his second goal in as many games to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
The Penguins responded a little more than two minutes later, when Jake Guentzel notched his third goal in as many games following a Panarin turnover in the neutral zone.
An evenly played first period resulted in a 1-1 tie, with the Rangers turning up the heat in the second.
The period began with an overdue power-play opportunity. The Blueshirts’ first power play of the series came at the 8:58 mark of the first period in Game 1, with 118:05 passing between the two games before the Pens were called for their next penalty.
Ryan Strome made the most of it, redirecting an Adam Fox one-timer past Domingue to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead with 2:59 elapsed in the second. Then, at the 12:06 mark, Chris Kreider redirected a Frank Vatrano one-timer to extend the lead to a two-goal margin.
Pittsburgh continued to fight, though, registering a rebound goal from Sidney Crosby to cut its deficit to 3-2 with 1:26 to play in the second period.
That put Rangers in a precarious spot entering the third, but they clamped down and responded by lengthening their lead.
A bit of good fortunate led to a goal from Panarin, whose pass deflected in off Mike Matheson’s skate at the 8:02 mark to make it 4-2. Vatrano followed that up by streaking down the right wing and unleashing a wrister to eliminate any chance of Penguins’ comeback.
Igor Shesterkin took care of the rest, finishing with 39 saves for his first career playoff win.
He survived a scary moment with 2:04 remaining in the game when Penguins forward Jeff Carter ran into Shesterkin after he came out of the net to play the puck. The 26-year-old goalie remained down on the ice for a few moments, but eventually got to his feet and finished the game.
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.
