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Game 14; NYR 2 TB 1, OT, complete team effort in win, Miller with GWG |
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The Rangers played what might have been their most complete game of the season, defeating Tampa 2-1 in overtime on J.T. Miller’s goal. New York was engaged physically throughout while also better defensively - especially the first 40 minutes - and Henrik Lundqvist was Henrik Lundqvist. The win marked the first time this season that the Rangers won back-to-back games this year.
Game recap:
MSG post-game recap:
Andrei Vasilevskiy and Lundqvist engaged in a contest of who could make the better save throughout with each goalie standing in their head at times. A 1-1 contest into overtime, the game had lots of hitting, some chippiness, laxness defensively and great offensive moves. Against a team like Tampa, opponents have to match them physically while not yielding defensively, especially through the neutral zone, for the most part, New York did that Thursday night to get the win.
To me, the most positive takeaway beyond the Win was the improved cohesiveness on the ice. All five players appeared to act as one unit, with each skater picking up the other while maintaining their positional discipline. Even with that, breakdowns occurred. When they did, Lundqvist was there to make the big save, as he did several times throughout the contest.
New York did benefit from a no goal call when Lundqvist was interfered in the crease by Gabriel Dumont who was engaged with Steven Kampfer. If the ruling on the Ice had been a goal, I wonder if there was enough contact to challenge and potentially overturn. But for the second time tin a win, Montreal the first, New York got the benefit of the call and the review.
Offensively, New York generated lots of chances, many come off the forecheck. Defensively, the fright night duo of Kampfer (paired with Marc Staal) and Nick Holden (paired with Ryan McDonagh) were for the most part okay, but still had some shaky moments on their individual pairings. Coach Alain Vigneualt usually doesn’t make changes after a win, so it’s possible that Brendan Smith will be a healthy scratch again. What was evident during the game is that Brady Skjei and Kevin Shattenkirk is the team’s best pairing right now and need to remain together.
Miller was good almost all game even without the goal. But on the game winner, good play defensively to help start the scoring sequence. Then his read of the situation, creating space and gaining momentum up ice to generate the chance. On the goal, he showed great patience, waiting to put the puck past Vasilevskiy.
As mentioned yesterday, New York is in the midst of one of the tougher stretches of their schedule. Saturday, the Rangers face the Panthers on the road. It gets no easier next week with home games against Columbus, Boston and Edmonton and then it’s road contests versus Chicago and Columbus. Thursday’s win was a good start to this part of the schedule, building off the comeback win against Vegas. Following up the strong effort against the Lightning was a similar one versus the Panthers will go a long way to convincing us and the team that they are starting to right the ship.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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