Penguins, Tristan Jarry edge Rangers, Igor Shesterkin

Saturday’s meeting between the Pittsburgh Penguins and the New York Rangers had the feel of a bygone era.

After all, it was the Penguins’ first contest on ABC in nearly two decades (March 2003).

But beyond the broadcaster (and even the Penguins’ throwback jerseys from the mid-1990s), this game felt like a display fitting of the so-called “dead puck” era from a generation or two ago.

That’s because the goaltenders — Tristan Jarry of the Penguins and Igor Shesterkin of the Rangers — were nothing short of spectacular.

Jarry happened to be at least one more degree of spectacular as he directed his team to a 1-0 shutout win at PPG Paints Arena.

The victory snapped a three-game losing streak and pushed the Penguins (32-14-8) into second place of the Metropolitan Division with 72 points, one more than the Rangers (33-14-5, 71 points).

Jarry rebounded considerably from Thursday’s 6-1 home loss to the Devils from which he was pulled for the first time this season. On Saturday, he stopped all 27 shots he faced and recorded his fourth shutout of the season while improving his record to 26-11-6.

Shesterkin might have been even better, at least in terms of the quality of the saves he was forced to make. He stopped 25 of 26 shots, his record slipping to 25-6-3.

“Both (goaltenders) were awesome tonight,” Penguins forward Jeff Carter said. “(Jarry) made some huge saves for us at really key times. He was a huge part of our win. On the flip side, it’s not a lot of fun going against that guy. He’s a heck of a goalie. There’s not many holes on him. So we really had to battle. We were lucky to get one there.”

The one the Penguins got came on a power play at 5 minutes, 9 seconds of the third period when forward Evgeni Malkin collected his eighth goal of the season.

After corralling a puck at the left point of the offensive zone, Penguins defenseman Kris Letang backhanded it low into the left corner. Settling the puck, Penguins forward Sidney Crosby flicked a backhand pass to the left circle for linemate Bryan Rust.

From there, Rust slipped a backhand pass past Rangers forward Kevin Rooney to the right circle for Malkin, who leaned down and fired a forehand shot by Shesterkin’s blocker on the far side for his eighth goal of the season. Rust and Crosby had assists.

The Rangers had a marvelous opportunity to tie a very rough-and-tumble game when Penguins defenseman Marcus Pettersson took a cross-checking minor at 8:20 of the third.

But Jarry rejected everything the Rangers offered on the ensuing power-play opportunity, including a wrist shot by forward Chris Kreider (9:07), a backhander by Kreider (9:11), a wrister by defenseman Adam Fox (9:17), another wrister by Kreider (9:28) and finally a wrister by forward Artemi Panarin (10:11).

Like several of those shots, Jarry deflected praise to his defenders.

“(Teammates) did a great job in front, clearing rebounds, clearing (attackers) in front, and I was able to see a lot of pucks,” Jarry said. “The (defensemen) did a great job. When we’re working as a three-man tandem back there, I think it really helps our game.”

For the Penguins, Saturday’s game was clearly better than their previous three efforts in which they allowed an average of 4.66 goals.

“Obviously, our defensive game hasn’t been up to par lately,” Carter said. “The last game was kind of the tip of the iceberg there. It’s something that we’ve talked about over the last few days. Everyone came in with the right mindset to check first and create our chances off of that. We did a heck of a job.”

Perhaps no one was better at their job Saturday than Jarry.

“We have full confidence in him,” Penguins defenseman John Marino said. “Everyone knows how good of a goaltender he is.”