On the eve of the Vezina finalists announcement, New York Rangers' goaltender Igor Shesterkin was pulled for the second consecutive game in Pittsburgh. Shesterkin allowed an onslaught of 6 goals through two periods of play on 30 total shots for a .800 save percentage.
The Rangers' fan base held their collective breaths when 50-goal scorer Chris Kreider took a puck to the throat at the end of the first period.
The first period of play might have been even on the scoresheet, but the underlying stats told a different story. The Rangers received a goal from young gun Alexis Lafreniere, and the Penguins added a tally off of the stick of captain Sidney Crosby (after another lengthy goal review). Despite the 1-1 score, shots were 14-8 Penguins, faceoffs were 8-3 Penguins, and hits were 17-15 Penguins.
The Penguins came out firing in the second period. They scored two goals within 0:24 seconds early in the period. Pittsburgh goals came from defenseman Mike Matheson and forward Jake Guentzel. Crosby notched his 200th career playoff point on the Guentzel tally. Mark Friedman added a goal with a shot from the point.
The Rangers battled back with defending Norris Trophy winner Adam Fox throwing a spin around shot on net. The puck deflected off Matheson's skate for the Rangers' second goal of the contest.
The Penguins finished off their 5-goal second period with goals from Danton Heinen and Jeff Carter. Carter's goal was the second tip-in goal as well as the second faceoff play goal of the game.
With a 4-goal lead heading into the third, it was a relatively uneventful period. Alexander Georgiev played a solid period for the second game in a row, allowing one goal on 11 shots for a .909 save percentage. This may raise a goalie controversy heading into Game 5 on Wednesday night.
The only goal Georgiev allowed was an impressive play between Kasperi Kapanen and Evgeni Malkin. Kapanen fed a reverse pass from below the goal line to Malkin in front for a top-shelf backhand shot.
