Rangers Survive, Fight on to Game 7

The New York Rangers comeback is on big time. Behind Chris Kreider’s game deciding goal in the third period, the Rangers beat the Pittsburgh Penguins 5-3 in Game 6 to force a deciding Game 7 at MSG on Sunday.

The Rangers badly needed their best scorers to answer the bell and with Kreider nailing two goals on Friday night, the Rangers have found a way to tie a series where it trailed 3-1.

Of course a comeback in this series wouldn’t be complete without the Rangers falling behind in Game 6 2-0. With the crowd behind the Penguins, it would have been easy to think the Rangers would be out of it.

You thought wrong.

Mike Zibanejad’s goal on a power play five minutes into the second period settled things down for the Rangers. Nearly a minute and a half later, Zibanejad tied the game on a shot just above the right circle. Finally at 13:48 Kreider gave the Rangers the lead on a power play. Three minutes later, Pittsburgh’s Evgeni Malkin tied the game at three on a wrist shot to close out the second period.

That set the stage for Kreider to star in the third period with 1:33 to go in regulation when he put up a desperate shot that bounced past goalie Louis Domingue and into the back of the net to give the Rangers a 4-3 lead. A minute later Andrew Copp poured it on with a goal of his own to make it 5-3.

The time was on to celebrate.