The Rangers found someone they could beat, defeating the Coyotes 5-2 Thursday. Pavel Buchnevich and Michael Grabner each scored twice while their linemate, Boo Nieves, had three assists in his season debut and second career contest in the NHL. New York travels to Montreal to face another struggling team, the Canadiens, on Saturday.
Game Highlights:
Coming into the game, most of talk centered around the return of Derek Stepan and Rick Nash’s 1,000 game. Each received the appropriate tribute from the Rangers. For one, it was a recognition of what was in New York, while for Nash, it also covered his career, but his went beyond just the Rangers.
Derek Stepan tribute:
#NYR welcome back @DerekStepan21 to @TheGarden. We salute you Step! pic.twitter.com/D1axDJNgpF
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 26, 2017
Stepan clearly was impacted by his demotions, especially early on in the game. After the contest he said: "I mean it was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do in my career, playing in this game." Stepan did find his edge after the contest wore on, especially in the second and third period. Only a good play by Brady Skjei prevented a deflection goal by Step in the third when the score was 4-2.
Rick Nash's 1,000 game:
#NYR fans @TheGarden give Rick Nash an ovation for his 1000th @NHL game. He will be honored on-ice before the 11/6 game vs Columbus. pic.twitter.com/2aUSgL33NH
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 26, 2017
Larry Brooks wrote the following: “Nash, 33, was drafted by the Blue Jackets with the No. 1-overall pick in 2002 and played the first 674 games of his career with that organization before being traded to the Rangers in the summer of 2012. Now 326 games into his tenure as a Rangers — to go along with 73 playoff games — he is in the final year of his contract with a $7.8 million salary-cap hit before reaching unrestricted free agency
The Rangers organization went all out and flew in Nash’s whole family for the game, seemingly getting to the normally straight-faced guy from Brampton, Ontario.… The organization, despite the management issues at times that we have highlighted, always handle these situations with the utmost in class. Thursday was no different for both Stepan and Nash.
New York took advantage of Adin Hill, a third string goalie only because Arizona isn’t carrying four netminders. They rose a strong first period to the victory. Arizona player much better the last 40 minutes of the game and at least made it a contest, forcing New York into bad turnovers and taking advantage of some shaky decisive play, including a few by Kevin Shattenkirk. When it was 4-2, the Coyotes had several good chances, but Ondrej Pavelec was solid between pipes, maintaining the lead after Clayton Keller’s PPG with just under four minutes gone in the third period.
While a win is a win is a win, as Brooks noted, two of the Blueshirts’ three victories have come against the squads with the two worst records in the NHL at a combined 2-15-2. But you have to play and beat who is on your schedule. Plus, as I pointed out yesterday, in the next few weeks, New York will face much stronger competition and desperately needed a victory yesterday.
Having an early lead allowed or forced coach Alain Vigneault to roll four lines, as he said he would do before the game. AV also might have been positively impacted by the strong first period by the fourth line. At even strength, the 12 forwards played between 11:56 (Nieves) and 13:46 (Grabner and Kevin Hayes). That spread is the ideal for the forward lines, especially in a game where all four lines contributed.
Brooks kind of stole my thunder with his column today. After the game my initial thought was why not go back to Pavelec on Saturday. It’s no slight on Henrik Lundqvist, whose job as the #1 is not even remotely in question. But with Hank struggling and the team desperate for wins coupled with Pavelec’s solid effort yesterday and Lundqvist’s historical issues in Montreal, why not go back to Pavelec again? Plus, if he plays well there and gets another win, roll with him Tuesday versus Las Vegas and maybe forward until it ends.