#Rangers youngster delivers on first-ever shootout chance

The Rangers pulled out a 2-1 win over the Bruins after going a season-high nine rounds in the shootout Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden.

Mika Zibanejad answered Bruins winger Jake DeBrusk to start before Artemi Panarin pulled the Rangers ahead following goalie Igor Shesterkin’s save on David Pastrnak. Long Island native Charlie Coyle kept the Bruins alive, but the next five rounds were scoreless as the Rangers’ Alexis Lafreniere, Adam Fox, Ryan Strome, Chris Kreider, Filip Chytil and Dryden Hunt all failed to convert.

The Rangers’ bench was growing shorter. Head coach Gerard Gallant then turned to second-year defenseman K’Andre Miller, who deked Bruins goalie Jeremy Swayman and put the puck in to secure the Rangers’ victory.

So, Miller volunteered, right?

“No, definitely not,” he said after his first career shootout attempt. “Coach kind of turned to me when their guy was up, and I was like, ‘Really? Like, you want me to go?’ Am I hearing this right? But no, it was a fun opportunity, and I’m glad I made the most of it.”

Asked when he knew what move he wanted to make, Miller said it came to him right around when the puck finally settled on his stick. The puck began to roll off his stick once he got to the top of the faceoff circle, he said, but he managed to maintain possession and bury it.

“He’s confident,” Gallant said of Miller. “From Game 10 on, he’s been really confident. Like any other young defenseman, they play really well, make some real good plays, and then they make some bad plays, a couple defensive-zone plays. That’s every player in the NHL. But he’s confident, he feels good about his game and scoring the shootout winner is pretty good for him tonight.”

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The Rangers are now 4-1 in shootouts this season, with their lone loss coming against the Golden Knights on Dec. 17. Their four wins are tied for the league-high.

Additionally, three of the five shootouts have gone six rounds or longer.

“I don’t know, around [the seventh round] I was sitting next to [Ryan Reaves] and he was making me nervous,” defenseman Jacob Trouba said with a smile. “He was nervous, and that meant I got nervous. It was nice to see some D though, we were kind of heckling a little bit that we need more D.”

After participating in his third shootout of the season, Shesterkin is now 3-0.

Despite being a full participant in the Rangers’ four days of practice, defenseman Patrik Nemeth was scratched on Tuesday. It was the sixth straight game that the Swede has missed for what the team has said is “personal reasons.”

“We don’t think he’s ready yet,” Gallant said.

Zac Jones took his place, skating alongside fellow rookie Braden Schneider to make up the third defensive pair.

Kaapo Kakko, who is on injured reserve with an upper-body injury, missed a career-high seventh straight game. The Finnish winger hasn’t missed this much time since he was sidelined six games last season while in COVID-19 protocol, which forced players to miss at least 10 days last season.