Recap: All Four Lines Contribute In Opening Night Blowout Win

Game 1 of 82. Can always go in many different directions but a 6-0 win is about as good as it gets. The Rangers kicked off the 2024-25 season on the road paying a visit to the Pittsburgh Penguins. Always an exciting night when a new season is underway but especially exciting for one player in particular as Victor Mancini made his NHL debut.

1st Period:

Hard to have scripted a better start to the night for the Rangers in this opening period. Wouldn’t take long at all before they found the back of the net as a shot from Jacob Trouba at the point took a perfect redirect off the stick of Sam Carrick in front of the net to make it a 1-0 game. First goal of the season for the New York Rangers and first career goal as a Blueshirt for the veteran center. 

Outside of the Rangers finding the early lead, it wasn’t a bad start for the Penguins at all. Anthony Beauvillier and Cody Glass tested Igor Shesterkin early with respective scoring chances requiring some sharp saves from the netminder entering a contract year. Tensions picked up a bit as a late shot from Filip Chytil who entered the zone just offside drew a small and short-lived scuffle. Wouldn’t escalate much from there as the Penguins were outshooting and outchancing the Rangers through the first half of the period. 

Things would take a turn around the midway mark of the period as a great effort from Kaapo Kakko on the rush developed the play to set up Will Cuylle perfectly on the right side. Cuylle roofed an absolute rocket of a wrister but upon further review, the play was called back as Cuylle crossed the blueline before Kakko and the puck did. 

Trouba had another chance to extend the lead on a play similar to the one that led to the games initial goal with the period beginning to near its end. As the play went the other way however, Alexis Lafrenière stole the show. A great defensive play from Artemiy Panarin stole the puck and sent Lafrenière on an odd-man rush with Vincent Trocheck. Lafrenière dragged the puck back and made an incredible move to beat the defender as well as the goaltender with a quick shot, properly making it a 2-0 game. 

The Rangers wrapped up the final two minutes of the period as if they had a man advantage, completely dominating the play. After several blocked shots and near attempts, Chris Kreider was set up perfectly on the doorstep to put home the rebound on another shot from Trouba to make it a 3-0 game. 

Shots were once 10-3 in favor of Pittsburgh yet the Rangers finished the period outshooting the Penguins 15-10. A good deal of which came in those final couple of minutes where the Rangers really seemed to turn things on. The Rangers led the way in both high danger chances (6-5) as well as expected goals for (2.98-1.26) after the opening twenty, winning 11 of the 19 face-offs. 

2nd Period:

First penalty of the night came 64 seconds into the second period as Drew O’Connor was sent off for tripping Filip Chytil in the neutral zone. The Rangers sent out their top power play unit, just as it was last season but wouldn’t find the back of the net. The man advantage was split pretty evenly with Lafrenière-Chytil-Kakko-Smith-Miller coming out for the final minute of the power play. Both units looked good but not enough to convert. 

Building off the momentum they established towards the end of the first, the Rangers registered 15 unanswered shots on goal, continuing to have the edge on the Penguins. Not long after the teams returned to even strength, Will Cuylle ran out of space and ended up colliding with Tristan Jarry in the Penguins crease. This left the netminder a bit shaken up and sent Cuylle off for the Rangers first penalty of the night. A good opportunity for the Penguins to get involved again which resulted in a couple of big saves for Igor Shesterkin, keeping them off the board through the entirety of the man advantage. 

Nearing the midway mark of opening night, another great shift from the third line resulted in a big moment for Filip Chytil. A rush attempt from Cuylle resulted in him mishandling the puck on a quick shot attempt that turned into the perfect drop pass for Chytil to send a shot over the blocker side of Jarry. Chytil, who missed practically all of last season with injury, had not scored a regular season goal since March 28, 2023. A great moment for a great player who worked extremely hard to earn that moment for himself, 4-0 Rangers. 

To top it all off, Chytil’s goal completed the cycle for the Rangers as all four lines contributed towards one of each of the team’s four goals. All at 5-v-5 at that. 

With about five and a half to go in the period, Trouba got tied up with Beauvillier in the slot which earned the Rangers’ Captain two for tripping. Another successful effort on the penalty kill with a 3-on-1 attempt from Zibanejad, Kreider and Miller going down as the best scoring chance on either side across those two minutes. 

With the teams back to even strength, a weird bounce near the zamboni door sent Kakko on a breakaway for as good of a scoring chance as you can ask for. The tough luck for the former second overall pick continued however as Jarry came up with a big save to keep the Rangers from running up the score. A bit of a scrum followed the whistle which sent Chytil and Marcus Pettersson off for coincidental minors. That quickly became a 4-on-3 as Sidney Crosby was called for cross-checking Mika Zibanejad just ten seconds after the puck dropped. 

With 68 seconds to take advantage of the shorthanded power play, the Rangers were hungry for that fifth goal but Jarry turned it up a notch, completely robbing Chris Kreider with a glove save right on the doorstep. That would do it for the second as the Rangers were not out-shooting the Penguins 29-19. 

3rd Period:

The game slowed down pretty significantly through the final period of regulation. With not much happening in the first ten minutes, the Rangers headed back to the penalty kill just over the ten minute mark as Reilly Smith was called for hooking Crosby. Another aggressively strong penalty kill from the Rangers resulted in a great effort from Chris Kreider to poke the puck away from Kris Letang to send himself on a breakaway. Amidst the attempted move, the puck slid right through the legs of Jarry to make it a 5-0 game, first shorthanded goal of the season. 

With three minutes to go in the outing, another strong shift from the Lafrenière line gave him a clean shot right in the slot which set up a garbage goal for Vincent Trocheck right outside the blue paint. 6-0 Rangers. 

A shutout for Igor Shesterkin, a pair of goals for Chris Kreider. Pair of assists for Jacob Trouba. First goal for Filip Chytil in 19 months. Three point nights from Artemiy Panarin and Alexis Lafrenière. All four lines contributed offensively and had a fantastic first outing. Final tally on shots on goal would be 40-29 New York as they completely dominated in their season opener. The Rangers will head back home to prepare for their home opener Saturday Night as they host the Utah Hockey Club.