PITTSBURGH — The Rangers put on a special teams clinic in Mike Sullivan’s return to the Steel City on Saturday night.
Behind Adam Fox’s middle-of-it-all, three-point effort, the Blueshirts defeated the Penguins 6-1 to secure their new head coach’s first win over his former team after Pittsburgh shut them out at Madison Square Garden just four days earlier.
The power play scored twice on four attempts.
The penalty kill successfully fended off all four Penguins power plays, in addition to posting a short-handed goal
Fox, who led all skaters with three points and added $2,569 to his Tackle ALS fund, had a hand in it all.
“I think Foxy is having a real strong start for us,” Sullivan said after his first game back at PPG Paints Arena. “He’s playing in so many key situations, all situations, on the penalty kill, the power play, five-on-five. What I like about his game right now is just his physicality down low. He’s defending. He’s defending hard. I think his offense speaks for itself, he sees the game really well. He has the ability to slow the game down offensively, and a lot of players don’t do that in today’s game. He has that knack. I’ve been really impressed with his commitment to play defense.”
The Rangers broke the game open in the second period shortly after Pittsburgh’s Ben Kindel, the 11th pick in this year’s draft, scored his first NHL goal to make it a 1-1 game.
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But not before they lost defenseman Carson Soucy, who crashed into the boards awkwardly while attempting a hit. He was ruled out for the remainder of the contest with an upper-body injury.
Fox ultimately registered the first of a three-goal second period for the Rangers.
After a strong shift from the fourth line, Adam Edstrom passed the puck out to Fox for the 2-1 lead at the 6:06 mark.
The Penguins struggled to stay out of the box for much of the middle frame, which allowed the Rangers to score twice with the man advantage.
Conor Sheary banked the puck in off Will Cuylle’s skate on the first goal before Fox ripped one from the top of the zone on the second. The Rangers whiffed on both their power-play opportunities in their first meeting with the Penguins, but they executed much better this time around.
The Rangers continued to push offensively in the third period, with Matt Rempe and Taylor Raddysh each chipping in a goal to put the game out of reach.
“Power play wasn’t great, but you find a way to put some pucks on net and get some goals,” Fox said. “I think, sometimes, that’s just how power plays go; you put it at the net and get some. But definitely cleaned up a lot five-on-five there in the second period.”
The Penguins essentially picked up where they left off at the Garden on Tuesday, controlling the puck and the pace of play through the first five minutes of the game.
When Juuso Parssinen — in his season debut due to Vincent Trocheck’s injury — took a seat in the box for tripping, however, the Rangers managed to survive the beginning onslaught and strike first despite being short-handed.
Fox backhanded the puck up to Sam Carrick, who jumped out on a two-on-one rush with Mika Zibanejad before the Swede buried it for the 1-0 lead.
The goal counted as Zibanejad’s first of the season and 251st with the Rangers, surpassing Mark Messier for eighth in franchise history.
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“I think it’s a work in progress,” Sullivan said of the Rangers penalty kill. “I think we’ve had moments when it’s looked really good. I think there’s been other moments where we’re not where we want to be yet. But when you have [Igor Shesterkin] making timely saves [18] for you, that certainly helps.”
