The Penguins hosted the New York Rangers at the PPG Paints Arena on Wednesday, October 9th, and Rutger McGroarty made his NHL debut. Victor Mancini had also made his NHL debut with the Rangers. Pittsburgh got shut out by Igor Shesterkin, who made a total of 29 saves for the Rangers. Chris Kreider scored twice to help the Rangers secure a 6-0 win to start off the season. The Penguins will visit the Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, and the Rangers will host the Utah Hockey Club on Saturday.
Game Preview: New York Rangers at Pittsburgh Penguins 10/9/2024
Penguins Lineup:
O’Connor – Crosby – Beauvillier
Bunting – Malkin – Rakell
McGroarty – Eller – Puljujarvi
Hayes – Glass – Acciari
Grzelcyk – Letang
Pettersson – Karlsson
Graves – St. Ivany
Jarry
Blomqvist
Rangers Lineup:
Kreider – Zibanejad – Smith
Panarin – Trocheck – Lafreniere
Cuylle – Chytil – Kakko
Edstrom – Carrick – Brodzinski
Miller – Fox
Schneider – Trouba
Jones – Mancini
Shesterkin
Quick
The Rangers got the game started fast when Sam Carrick put New York ahead 1-0 on their first shot on goal at 17:36, holding off Kris Letang to tip in Jacob Trouba’s point shot. It appeared that New York extended the lead when Will Cuylle sent the puck past Tristan Jarry, however, the Penguins successfully challenged for offside. Alexis Lafreniere then made it 2-0 at 2:37 of the opening frame when he put a wrister past Jarry to the blocker side from the left face-off circle. Artemi Panarin passed the puck to Lafreniere, who took the stretch pass, dragged the puck around Marcus Pettersson, and scored on a wrist shot. With just seconds left on the clock, Chris Kreider pushed it to 3-0 off a rebound of Trouba’s one-timer, sending in a wrist shot from the slot.
Filip Chytil gave the Rangers a 4-0 lead at 10:21 of the middle frame with a snapshot that went in off the crossbar after taking a drop pass from Will Cuylle. This had been Chytil’s first regular-season goal since March of 2023, for New York… he didn’t have a goal in 10 games last season before sustaining a concussion on November 2nd.
Scoring his second of the night to extend the lead to 5-0, Chris Kreider scored a short-handed goal at 8:25 of the third. He slipped it through five-hole after beating Kris Letang to the puck. Vincent Trocheck scored with a wrist shot for the 6-0 final with 3:01 remaining.
Tristan Jarry on the 6-0 loss and the disappointment: “I thought we came out pretty strong, I think it just got a little loose at times – It’s a long season… so, we have to find our legs and I think we will be better from this one, and we’ll learn from it,” – “It is disappointing. We had a long off-season and it wasn’t really the off-season we wanted.. we were so close to making it last year. It’s a new year, I think just being able to start on the right foot would have really helped us, but obviously, we have to work a little harder. I have to work a little harder myself.”
Rutger McGroarty on his rookie lap and his family being there to watch him play: “It was exciting, going no helmet. It was fun. You only get one rookie lap, so I enjoyed the moment for sure,” – “It means the world to me. Just how they travel all the time, all over the world to watch me. If it’s Sweden, Pittsburgh, wherever it is, they’ve always traveled to watch me play. I’m really grateful for them and I wouldn’t be here without them.”
Notes:
– Tristan Jarry made a total of 35 saves for the Penguins.
– Rutger McGroarty had one shot on goal and played 12:20 in his NHL debut after being acquired in a trade on August 22nd from the Winnipeg Jets.
– Erik Karlsson played 21:01, second on the Penguins behind Kris Letang (24:27), after he had missed out on most of training camp due to an upper-body injury.
– Sidney Crosby entered his 20th franchise-record season overall when he hit the ice in the Penguins home opener. The trio: Crosby, Letang, and Malkin is the longest-tenured trio in major North American professional sports history, now entering their 19th season together.
– In his Rangers debut, after being traded from the Penguins on July 1st, Reilly Smith recorded an assist and played 14:54.
– Sam Carrick made his Rangers debut after signing a three-year contract on July 1st.
– In his NHL debut, Victor Mancini had one shot on goal and one block in 17:27 of ice time.
– This shutout is Igor Shesterkin’s 16th in the NHL… it had also been the first shutout the Rangers recorded in their season opener for the first time since October 12th, 1956, when Gump Worsley had made a total of 31 saves against the Chicago Blackhawks in a 3-0 win.
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