The outside noise surrounding the Rangers has been jackhammering on the walls of the locker room for weeks.
On perhaps the loudest day of the season, however, the Blueshirts were able to focus on the game at hand.
In this case, a three-point performance from Artemi Panarin helped propel the Rangers to a 4-2 win over the Penguins Friday night at Madison Square Garden.
The New York Rangers celebrate after Reilly Smith scores a goal during the third period on Friday night.
The Rangers were intent on dialing in to the game ahead Friday morning despite early news that captain Jacob Trouba was to be held out for the purpose of “roster management.”
Trouba was ultimately traded to Anaheim later in the day, in exchange for defenseman Urho Vaakanainen and a conditional fourth-rounder in 2025, before the puck was even dropped.
Artemi Panarin celebrates after scoring for the Rangers in the second period on Friday night.
It was, of course, not unexpected given both the offseason saga with Trouba and president and general manager Chris Drury’s league-wide message eliciting trade partners — citing Trouba and Chris Kreider — that was made public at the end of last month.
That presumably did not make it any easier for the Rangers to keep their attention solely on the Penguins.
“There’s a little bit more sense of togetherness,” said Vincent Trocheck, who capped the Rangers’ scoring in the third period with his seventh goal of the season to finish with three points on the night. “When something like this happens, you bind together, and you’ve got to get through these types of things together. So, definitely, before this game and through this morning, and throughout the day, we’re all trying to make sure that we’re staying tight.”
It was imperative for the Rangers to do so.
Igor Shesterkin, who signed a huge Rangers extension earlier Friday, makes a save against the Penguins.
The cushion the Rangers built on a 5-0-1 getaway has vanished amid the 1-6 stretch the team carried into Friday night’s contest, which resulted in an eight-point gap between them and the third-place Hurricanes in the Metropolitan Division standings at the start of the game.
With Carolina set to face the Islanders on Saturday, the Rangers were able to cut it to a six-point difference.
“The day happened, we needed to do that anyway,” head coach Peter Laviolette said. “When things aren’t going your way, you got to stay together. You have to play for each other. It’s the only way out of it sometimes. Tonight, for me, was a positive step. It’s one step. We need to follow it up more.”
Igor Shesterkin may have just become the highest-paid goaltender in NHL history with an eight-year, $92 million deal, but Panarin remains the highest-paid player on the Rangers for a reason.
Panarin recorded two goals and an assist in the win, in which he broke out his trademark leg kick celebration for the first time in a bit.
Alex Nedeljkovic of the Pittsburgh Penguins defends the net against Filip Chytil.
The star Russian wing continues to lead the Rangers with 32 points on the season.
The Penguins may have managed to even the score at two-all less than 6 ½ minutes into the third period, on a goal from Philip Tomasino, but the Rangers continued to play with pace and urgency.
Reilly Smith later cleaned up a rebound off a Rangers odd-man rush opportunity before Trocheck chipped in another to secure the victory and snap the Penguins’ four-game win streak.
Vincent Trocheck of the New York Rangers celebrates with his teammates after he scores a goal during the third period on Friday night.
“It was a tough day, for sure,” Ryan Lindgren said. “But we knew this was a big game tonight. Everyone knows we’re in a little bit of a hole right now. I thought we did a good job of coming out ready tonight, right from puck drop. There was a lot going on today, but I thought the guys did a good job of focusing on the game and playing a good game.”
