The Wraparound: Goaltending, special teams deciding Penguins-Rangers

It is not difficult to see which team has been better at even-strength through the first six games of the Penguins-Rangers series. It is Pittsburgh, and by a pretty significant margin. You can see it on the ice, and the numbers back it up.

Pittsburgh has a 53% share of the shot attempts. It has a 62 percent share of the expected goals (the top mark in the league), a 58 percent share of the scoring chances, and a 66 percent share of high-danger scoring chances. Oh, and they have also outscored the Rangers 20-14 during 5-on-5 play. Sidney Crosby was getting most of the attention prior to his injury in Game 5 (and for good reason) but the rest of the forward lines and defense have been carrying their share of the weight as well.

Based on 5-on-5 play, this series should probably already be over.

But the game is a lot more than just 5-on-5 play. Goaltending and special teams play a pretty big role as well, and that is where the Rangers have made up their ground to erase a 3-1 series deficit and send it to a winner-take-all Game 7 on Sunday night (7 p.m. ET; TBS, SNE, SNO, SNP, SN360).

Let’s start with the goaltending.

This was always going to be the Rangers’ big advantage. Igor Shesterkin is the best goalie in the league this season, the likely Vezina Trophy winner, and a Hart Trophy finalist. He is the biggest reason the Rangers had the success they had this season.

Pittsburgh, meanwhile, opened the series without starting goalie Tristan Jarry and then lost backup Casey DeSmith for the remainder of the playoffs in the second overtime of Game 1, leaving its net in the hands of Louis Domingue. Domingue stopped all 17 shots in his first appearance to help backstop the Penguins to a 4-3 triple overtime win and has had to start