Five stats-based observations about the Pittsburgh Penguins after a 7-4 win against the New York Rangers in Saturday’s Game 3 at PPG Paints Arena (analytics courtesy naturalstattrick.com unless specified otherwise):

1.Vezina-ed

Though balloting won’t be announced until next month, Igor Shesterkin is the presumptive Vezina Trophy winner as the NHL’s best goalie for the 2021-22 regular season.

After the Penguins got Sheterkin pulled via four goals on 15 first-period shots, his goals-against average had climbed to 3.24 for the series. He was at 2.08 during the regular season. Even Shesterkin’s .928 series save percentage — while still very good — is lower than his regular-season .935 mark,

Shesterkin had allowed four or more goals in just seven of the 53 regular-season games he played this season. Only once did he allow as many as four goals in a period.

The Penguins scored as many goals in a 13 ½-min span of the first period against Shesterkin as they scored in the entire four-game regular season series against him

2. Done this before

Shesterkin is getting buzz for Hart Trophy consideration as NHL MVP. It would be shocking if he didn’t win the Vezina.

If so, this would mark the sixth time over the past 40 years that the Penguins faced a season’s Vezina winner in that year’s postseason.

The Penguins won each of the past five.

The Washington Capitals’ Jim Carey (1996) and Olaf Kolzig (2000), the Buffalo Sabres’ Dominik Hasek (2001), the Capitals’ Braden Holtby and the Columbus Blue Jackets’ Sergei Bobrovsky (2017) all were vanquished by the Penguins. Hasek and Holtby lost in second-round series to the Penguins; the others all in the opening round.

Carey was so shaken by the Penguins that he lost his starting job just 6 minutes into Game 3 after posting a putrid .744 save percentage and 6.18 GAA in the series. The four Vezina winners (plus Shesterkin) the Penguins have beaten in the playoffs since have combined to be lit up for 78 goals in 26 games.

3. Quiet John

When the Penguins’ game ended Saturday night, there had been 90 skaters across the NHL playoffs who had at least 90 minutes of 5-on-5 ice time.

Of them all, the one who had the best rate of attempted shots by his team relative to opponents? Penguins defenseman John Marino.

The Penguins have controlled 71.7% of shot attempts at even strength when Marino is on the ice in this series. That’s better than the league-wide No. 2 in that category, the best player on the Western Conference’s best team, the Colorado Avalanche’s Nathan McKinnon.

Marino also leads in the NHL in percent of team shots that get on goal (68.4%) and expected goals-for percentage (77.5%). He is third in team percentage of scoring chances relative to opponents (73.5%).

4. Worst for first

A primary storyline regarding the Penguins through the first two games of this series was that the first line had been carrying too much of the load. But Saturday, that reversed: the “bottom nine” contributed with all five goals that beat a goalie. And, the top-line trio of Sidney Crosby, Jake Guentzel and Bryan Rust easily had what was their worst game of the series.

The Penguins’ top line — one of the best in the NHL — wasn’t awful by any means, and it was very good defensively. But it managed to put just four shots on goal all game long in 5-on-5 play. Hard to believe such a talented threesome would even so much as attempt only seven shots in what was 10 minutes and 40 seconds of even-strength ice time together.

Crosby, Guentzel and Rust almost flew under the radar because so little was happening — good or bad — when they took the ice. During those almost 11 minutes at 5-on-5, there were only five scoring chances (two by the Penguins, three by the Rangers).

For basis of comparison, there were 14 scoring chances (four for the Penguins; 10 for the Rangers) during the 8:19 when the Penguins’ third line of Jeff Carter, Jason Zucker and Brock McGinn was on the ice at even strength. In only 4 minutes and 24 seconds, the fourth line Evan Rodrigues, Teddy Blueger and Brian Boyle matched the Crosby line in scoring chances with five (three by the Penguins and two from the Rangers).

5. Tale of two 2-goal games

Rodrigues and Carter each had two goals Saturday. But the advanced statistics suggest their overall performances couldn’t have been farther apart.

Rodrigues led the Penguins in shot-attempt percentage (76.9%) — Carter was last on the team (26.7%). The same was true of team scoring chances for/against when each is on the ice: Rodrigues was No. 1 at 75% and Carter was tied for the worst at 31.3%.

Rodrigues tied for the second-best among Penguins in team shots on goal relative to the Rangers while he was on the ice (66.7%); Carter had the Penguins’ worst ratio (26.3%).

Keep up with the Pittsburgh Penguins all season long.

Copyright ©2025— Trib Total Media, LLC (TribLIVE.com)