The Rangers ended their two-game losing streak with a total team effort Sunday. In the 3-0 win, s little bit of offense mixed with strong defense, solid goaltending and an excellent penalty kill was the recipe for the victory. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 20 shots to earn his 63rd shutout, passing Turk Broda on the all-time list.
Game recap :
MSG post-game :
In the first, a fairly end period. The Rangers also killed off two Ottawa power plays in the first 10 minutes of the game. The Senators didn’t generate a ton of offense but had two excellent chances, the first coming on the man-advantage. Mike Hoffman hit the outside of the post, I believe on the power play, and later, was stoned by Lundqvist, who stacked his pads as he went post-to-post to blunt Hoffman’s one-timer from the left slot on a 2-on-1 at 16:35 of the period.
Kevin Hayes gave the Rangers a 1-0 lead at 4:46 of the second period with a wrist shot from the right circle that beat Craig Anderson into the top right corner. Very good work along the boards by Jesper Fast, who was moved up to the second line yesterday, to create the opportunity. Fast, who worked the puck along the wall before flipping a backhand pass to Hayes, received the primary assist and Jimmy Vesey, moved down to the fourth line, got the second.
New York was up 1-0 after one but got that all important second goal just before the five-minute mark of the third period. Michael Grabner scored from the high slot, tipping Marc Staal’s wrister past Craig Anderson, who was screened by J.T. Miller, at 4:52 of the third for the two-goal edge. Grabner’s goal was made by Nick Holden. Gaining the blue line and holding the puck, then putting the shot on net to Anderson’s blocker, which if you watched the MSG post-game show, was something highlighted as the way to shoot on Anderson to generate rebounds, and following it up to get the initial rebound.
Mika Zibanejad scored an empty-net goal, his 10th of the season, at 17:31 of the third period. In the play, patience, which was the word many of the Rangers utilized was in display. New York didn’t just try and shoot the puck down ice. Mats Zuccarello, moved down to the third line who also assisted on Grabner’s goal, calmly fed Zib on the boards after picking up the puck following Chris Kreider blocking the pass in the slot. Zib waited until he had a clear lane and put the puck in the center of the empty net.
Some notes:
New York (10-9-2) won its sixth consecutive home game after winning two of its first eight (2-4-2). New York plays Carolina on the road on Wednesday and then comes home for contests against Detroit, Vancouver and Florida. If they can keep the home cooking going, returning to the road warrior days of the last several years would make this a more complete team.
The Rangers had a single-game season-high 27 blocked shots, including a team-high six from Brady Skjei. Of those 27 blocked shots, six of them came while killing off Brendan Smith's five-minute major (and game misconduct) for interference on Ottawa defenseman Mark Borowiecki at 7:32. Even more impressive, New York blocked six of Ottawa’s eight shot attempts during the five minutes with only one shot ending up on goal. The Rangers are 27-for-31 on the penalty kill (87.1 percent) in the past 10 games
My take on Smith’s penalty: Smith and Borowieski were basically even chasing the puck. That shouldn’t be a penalty, let alone a major. Both going for puck, making eye contact before the contact and they went shoulder to shoulder with Borowieski losing his balance and crashed into the boards. I hope Borowieski, who has a concussion, isn’t badly hurt. But that wasn’t a check from behind or dirty play. Clean hit with no penalty warranted. Coach Alain Vigneault called it “an unfortunate hockey accident,” which is the right way of referring to what transpired.
What was evident right after the penalty is that team was going to try and pick up their teammate, especially since Smith had just returned to the lineup Friday after sitting for six games. Standing ovation at MSG after the kill of the major. What a job by all especially Nash and Hayes and Fast and Grabner along with all four blueliners, especially Skjei, as Kevin Shattenkirk was the only one of the five remaining blueliners not to play in the short-handed situation.
Watching the kill and also throughout the game, if you can’t see just how much Rick Nash means to this team and how many little things he does on the ice that to too many goes unnoticed, hen nothing I will say will convince you. Yes, he is paid to score, but his game is so much more well-rounder than just that. If he can continue to score as he has so far this year, maybe he will get the recognition he deserves.
Time on Ice:
Paul Carey and Boo Nieves played pretty well in their limited ice time. ‘Kirk wasn’t on for the PL while Smith’s minutes were down due to the major and ejection. Another strong game from Holden, same for Marc Staal, each of whom were very good last night. The power play needs to refine its mojo but other than that, a total team win.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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