It was extremely ugly, but the New York Rangers found a way to come away with a 5-3 win over the Pittsburgh Penguins.

The Rangers were coming off of an embarrassing 8-2 loss against the Buffalo Sabres as they were in dire need of a bounce back-performance.

In the first period, the Blueshirts didn’t come out with that intensity expected, but managed to escape the period tied 1-1 with Will Cuylle scoring a power play goal.

It was in the second period when things started to go south for the Rangers.

Throughout practically the entire middle frame, the Rangers were playing in their own zone. Pittsburgh was bombarding them with shots while New York just couldn’t get anything going offensively.

For nearly 20 minutes, the Rangers did not record a single shot on net. Toward the end of the period, the Penguins led 14-0 in shots.

However, J.T. Miller’s goal allowed the Rangers to somehow take a 2-1 edge going into the final 20 minutes of play.

Despite losing the lead in the third period, the Rangers managed to calm down and find their game.

Three unanswered goals coming from Jimmy Vesey, Adam Fox and Miller gave New York the much-needed two points.

Igor Shesterkin was the driving force in this victory. Just one day after giving up five goals and getting pulled, the 29-year-old goalie found his groove in a big way and really carried his team.

Shesterkin bailed out the Rangers, and there’s no other way to put it.

“The standard is higher than what we’ve shown the past two games,” Miller said. “Shesty won us that game today, played unbelievable. We need the points, so I guess we’ll take those, but we understand the urgency has to go up a little bit.”

With the playoff race so tight, the Rangers have to elevate their level of play. Clearly, this team still has major issues that must be addressed, but they don’t have much time.

The Rangers will be back in action on Tuesday night against the New York Islanders.

Igor Shesterkin Leads Rangers To Ugly Victory Over Penguins