Panarin, Shesterkin lead Rangers to 6-0 rout of Penguins Coyotes sign Shane Doan’s son to entry-level contract Blackhawks forward Cole Guttman has shoulder surgery Blues’ Jordan Binnington suspended 2 games for throwing punch Sabres preach patience to a young squad in playoff race

NEW YORK (AP) Mika Zibanejad scored a goal and made two assists Artemy Panarin scored twice and Igor Shesterkin made 33 saves as the New York Rangers thrashed Pittsburgh 6-0 on Saturday night, their second victory over the Penguins in three days.

Vladimir Tarasenko, Chris Crider And Jacob Aries also scored for the rising Rangers, who have won nine of their last 11 home games and are 12-4-0 in their last 16 at Madison Square Garden.

Shesterkin won his fifth straight win and posted his second shutout of the season. He deftly deflected Pittsburgh forward Mikael Granland with a five-minute save in the third period to save the shutout, the 10th of his career. His other victory this season was a 1-0 home win over Philadelphia on November 1.

“When you work hard and honestly, miracles happen,” Shesterkin said through a translator. “Today we played great – we scored many, many goals. To be honest, I hope the fans enjoyed it. We play for them.”

The Penguins have lost for the third time in a row and are 12 points behind the Rangers, finishing third in the Capital Division. Pittsburgh, still in the wild card position, is trying to make the playoffs for the 17th time in a row.

“Tonight was humiliating for all of us,” said trainer Mike Sullivan. “At this time of year, you must have a short memory. We are still in control of our destiny.”

Patrick Kane and quarterback Q’Andre Miller also threw in two passes each as New York improved to 7-1-1 in their last nine home games against Pittsburgh. The Rangers are five points behind the second-placed New Jersey Devils, who lost Saturday in Florida.

“It was a big game for our goalkeeper and our team,” Panarin said. “If you work to play right, you have a chance to score a goal.”

Since December 5, when they ended their season with a 6-4 home win over St. Louis, the Rangers are 29-9-5.

As on Thursday, when the Rangers beat the Penguins 4-2, Zibanejad opened the scoring. He scored his team-best 36th goal 5:10 to go, beating a Penguins goaltender. Tristan Jarry. Truba and Miller helped.

Panarin made it 2-0 at 19:49 on the power play, clearing the puck past Jarry from the left loop after a pass from Adam Fox.

Tarasenko extended his lead by 3:54 seconds, scoring his fifth goal since joining the Rangers on a Feb. 9 trade with St. Louis. Tarasenko scores in 10 of his first 18 games for the Rangers.

Kreider made it 4–0 in 6:43, scoring his 31st goal and third in two games against the Penguins. Kane and Vincent Trochek assisted Crider on his 260th career goal to move the Rangers two ahead of Vic Hadfield to fifth on the franchise list.

New York won on Thursday when Kreider scored the go-ahead in Game 3 to add an empty net.

After Casey DeSmith replaced Jarry in goal after Kreider’s goal, Truba beat the substitute with a sharp angle shot at 8:39 to widen the gap to 5–0. Truba has scored in six of the last eight games.

Panarin scored again at 16:38 seconds – his 22nd goal of the season – to make it 6-0 with Kane and Philip Chitil.

“We’re building chemistry, we’re building every day and every game,” Kane said.

Panarin has scored in eight of his last 10 games to lead the Rangers with 77 points overall, while Kane has seven points in his last six games.

“It’s great to see so many great players on your team,” added Panarin, whose first two seasons in the NHL he played with Kane for the Chicago Blackhawks. “We are happy tonight.”

Zibanejad assisted Tarasenko and Truba and scored 25 points, including 14 goals, in the last 20 games.

“It was just one of those nights when the puck flew towards us,” Zibanejad said. “And obviously Igor gives us momentum by making all those saves.”

NOTES: The Penguins were short of a quarterback. Jeff Petrie after a Rangers forward elbowed him without penalty Tyler Motte on Thursday. … Pittsburgh also scratched the quarterback Jan Rutta and forward Dalton Heinen and played quarterback Mark Friedman for the first time since February 11th. …Rangers didn’t have an injured defenseman Ryan Lindgren for the 10th game in a row.

NEXT

Penguins: Receive the Ottawa Senators on Monday.

Rangers: Host Nashville Predators Sunday Night.

—

AP NHL: https://apnews.com/hub/NHL And https://twitter.com/AP-Sports

TEMPE, Arizona. — Josh Doane following in his father’s footsteps into professional hockey.

The Arizona Coyotes signed the 21-year-old forward to a three-year rookie contract starting in the 2023-24 NHL season. He will report to the AHL’s Tucson Roadrunners and play his first game against the Calgary Wranglers.

Doane’s father, Shane, played 21 seasons for the franchise, many as captain, and followed her from Winnipeg to the desert in 1996. Shane Doan now serves as Arizona’s chief hockey development officer.

The Coyotes drafted Josh Doane in the second round in 2021, but he chose to play for the Arizona State Sun Devils hometown.

Josh Doane set school records for goals (12) and assists (25) as a freshman last season. This season, he has 16 goals and 22 assists in 39 games for Arizona State.

The 6’1″, 183lb also played two seasons for the USHL’s Chicago Steel.

CHICAGO – Chicago Blackhawks, forward Cole Guttman underwent surgery on his right shoulder.

According to doctors, the operation was carried out in Los Angeles. Team doctor Michael Terry said Guttman, 23, is expected to “be out of hockey for about four months.”

Gutman was a welcome surprise for Chicago’s recovery. He made his NHL debut last month and finished the season with four goals and two assists in 14 games.

Guttman was selected by Tampa Bay in the 2017 draft. In August 2022, he agreed to a two-year contract with Chicago that included a $950,000 salary cap.

NEW YORK – St. Louis Blues goaltender Jordan Binnington was suspended for two games without pay for hitting a Minnesota Wild forward. Ryan Hartman.

Binnington’s suspension forced the Blues to call up Springfield’s Joel Hofer of the AHL as a backup goaltender.

Binnington received a penalty in the second period after an 8-5 loss to the Minnesota for swinging his blocking glove at Hartman. Binnington left his crease and went for Hartman just after giving up Wilde’s fifth goal of the night.

Minnesota goaltender Marc-Andre Fleury rode across the ice to confront Binnington without a mask, but officials separated them and Binnington was removed from the ice.

Binnington will forfeit $64,864.86 under the NHL’s collective bargaining agreement, based on his average annual salary. The money goes to the Emergency Player Assistance Fund.

Binnington is 22-24-5 with an average of 3.39 goals. Thomas Greiss likely to be the Blues’ No. 1 goaltender while Binnington is away.

BUFFALO, New York – captain of the Sabers Kyle Okposo is one of the oldest players on one of the youngest teams in the NHL, and he tries to be patient in the midst of the playoffs at the end of the season.

While Okposo would like nothing more than to end the league’s worst 11-year playoff drought, the 35-year-old, soon to be 35, understands there are lessons to be learned and steps not to be skipped.

Before the Sabres embarked on their current three-game journey, Okposo said the team was close to winning.

“And if you said that before the year we will be in this place, most people would laugh,” he added. “So we’re getting close to it. We just have to keep pushing and we have to keep knowing that what we are doing is working and we must not get impatient with the results.”

It’s a challenge for a team that has most of its players in an NHL playoff race for the first time.

“It’s a different pressure than last year,” Okposo said, referring to how a team that was no longer in competition finished the season 14-7-3. “Last year we tried to build something. So how do you keep building and how do you keep dealing with the pressure?”

Results so far have been mixed, reflecting a team of three rookies and seven players born in 2000 or later. In addition, only eight players have made the playoffs in a total of 218 playoff games, led by Alex cloth66 matches with Vegas.

At 33-28-6, Buffalo is on the edge of the playoff race – 11th in the Eastern Conference standings with 72 points and six behind the wildcards with 15 games remaining.

On the other hand, with three more wins, the Sabers will have the most since the 2011–2012 season, when the team last finished with more rule wins than losses (39–32–11).

Clear signs of youth were evident in Buffalo’s 2-5-2 record in his last nine games.

The Sabres rallied from a 2-0 loss to beat Toronto 4-3 before squandering a 4-2 lead in the last 10 minutes of regulation to lose 5-4 to Washington.

The extreme moment was a 3–2 loss to the New York Islanders, which set up a goal that the Sabers questioned for being scored when the puck bounced off Hudson Fasching’s shin. Two days later, the disappointment spilled over into a 10-4 home game against Dallas.

After the loss, coach Don Granato joked that he couldn’t sit on everyone’s bench, but shifted the focus forward, saying, “Something good has to come out of this.”

“Everyone makes mistakes, and the faster you learn, the better,” he said. “Today should be one of those unfortunate negative outcomes, a bad memory that makes you a better person.”

Buffalo responded with one of their most effective defensive plays, losing 2-1 to the New York Rangers in a shootout.

General manager Kevin Adams carefully balances long-term growth with short-term success for a franchise that has faltered too often in an attempt to speed things up…