The New York Rangers won a close game on Friday night, sending their series against the Pittsburgh Penguins back to New York for a critical game seven on Sunday. The Rangers won the game 5-3 with a highlight-reel goal in the mix.
Mika Zibanejad got things going for the New York Rangers. The Rangers entered the second period down 2-0 but Zibanejad had two quick goals five minutes into the second to help even the game.
Zibanejad had his best game of the postseason on Friday night. He had just four assists to his name through the previous five games. This is the same player that had 29 goals and 52 assists in 81 games this season.
Friday night was his night as he had two goals and two assists. One of his assists can be seen here where you can see the best setup from a goalie in the postseason so far.
With the Rangers and Penguins tied 2-2 and New York on the power play, the Penguins dumped the puck down the ice to help kill the penalty. The issue was Igor Shesterkin was there to set up a great pass to Zibanejad, who put a shot on the net that trickled over to Chris Kreider, who scored a great goal.
This is exactly what the Rangers need in order to keep their season alive. You can see on the video how many Penguins skaters were chasing the play back thinking they could get off the ice for a change. The second period is the long change for both teams and Shesterkin capitalized on that with his pass to Zibanejad.
Shesterkin had a strong game as well in game six. His postseason results have not been as strong as his regular-season numbers, but he does have a game seven to reset the narrative.
I am all for goalies getting involved offensively. Mike Smith seemed to try a shot on the net in the final minutes of the third period in LA on Thursday, for now, Shesterkin has the highlight reel of the playoffs for goalies!