(Pittsburgh) Chris Kreider completed a brace at 18:32 in the third period and the Rangers defeated the Penguins 5-3 on Friday, forcing a Game 7 of the Pittsburgh-New York series in the first round.
Posted at 10:13 p.m.
Adam Fox spotted Mika Zibanejad at the entrance to the opposing zone. This one passed to Kreider, whose slap shot from the blue line was partially blocked by Louis Domingue-the high jump ended up behind him.
Andrew Copp added an empty-netter with 26.4 seconds on the clock.
The final match will be presented on Sunday at Madison Square Garden.
Zibanejad had himself hit the target twice and that in the middle period (in 1:16), after the goals of rivals Jeff Carter and Bryan Rust, in the first period.
On the power play, Kreider’s first goal gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead at 13:48 into the second period. That was before Evgeni Malkin’s reply, 2:48 later.
Fox finished the game with four assists.
Domingue made 33 saves, two more than Igor Shesterkin.
The Penguins were without captain Sidney Crosby.
Head coach Mike Sullivan confirmed it after morning practice.
Crosby left in Game 5 after being hit high by Jacob Trouba on Wednesday. He did not return to the meeting.
The Penguins limited themselves to saying that Crosby, a victim of concussions in the past, suffered an upper-body injury.
Author of two goals and seven assists, Crosby dominates the scorers of the series.