In a game that meant a lot less than whst had originally been described for the contest due to the tragic event in New York earlier that day, the Rangers scored four goals in the third to rally for a 6-4 win over the Golden Knights. To the players on the ice, emotion was the driving theme to their comeback victory. While not a complete salve, nor could it fully dim what transpired in TriBeCa, the win appeared to have much more meaning that just a normal comeback victory.
Game Recap:
Athletes in general but especially hockey players have a sense of their place on the ice and in the world as a whole. For the Rangers, because so many players live in Tribeca or the neighboring blocks, the day’s tragedy hit especially close to home. You could hear and feel it in their voices as well as their words.
Zucc and Hank post-game :
“On a day like this, where maybe hockey is not that important, we wanted to give everyone a good feeling,… said Mats Zuccarello, who scored to tie the game at two in the second period.“When you play the game, obviously you don’t think about what’s going on in the city but it keeps coming back to you,… Henrik Lundqvist said. “Going into the third, all our focus was to leave everything out there and see how hard we could push it. … On a very emotional and tough day, I feel like we did a good job here tonight.…
“It was bigger than the two points today,… Mika Zibanejad said. “We were trying to play for the whole city and all the families involved.…
“There was a lot of emotion in our dressing room before the game tonight with what happened today in Tribeca,… coach Alain Vigneault said. “A lot of our players live around there. … I heard a couple guys talk about it before. They were talking about, ‘We gotta put this together, we gotta get going here.’ They were aware of it. It was an emotional moment, what happened today. I thought guys handled it well and we were able to come back.…
Despite giving up four goals, if it wasn’t for Lundqvist, New York would have been out of the game after two periods. The defense in front of him was porous at best and sieve-like at times. The newly paired duo of Steven Kampfer and Marc Staal has their issues, especially on the first goal. Alex tuck danced around Kampfer on the left side. Staal, instead of leaving Tuch to Lundqvist, cheated towards the winger, leaving Oscar Lindberg open to bang in the rebound.
The first pairing wasnt immune to mistakes and was the worst of the three duos by far. On the second goal, Brandan Smith was beaten along the boards by his brother Reilly for the puck. Then, instead of getting position on Reilly in front, Brendan lost track of his man, allowing Reilly to get to the rebound and put it last Lundqvist. The third goal against came as a result of strong work in the O-zone by Vegas, which was hallmark of their play last night and so far this year, effort on every shift. On ice was the McD and Smith pairing, who were beaten again to a rebound that Reilly Smith put in the net. David Perron’s penalty shot and 4-2 lead came after an offensive zone turnover and he beat Kevin Hayes and Smith to the net drawing the penalty.
Larry Brooks summed up Smith’s struggles well: “for No. 42, who was simply dreadful on the right side paired with McDonagh, got only two brief third-period shifts worth 34 seconds and did not get off the bench for the final 15:09. This was a fitting response from the still employed Alain Vigneault, given that Smith played to an absurd 24.2 Corsi (8 attempts for/25 against) paired with the captain (24.3, 9/28) while matched primarily against the Jonathan Marchessault-William Karlsson-(brother) Reilly Smith line…
The best pairing last night was Kevin Shattenkirk and Brady Skjei, who drew the penalty that resulted in the game-winning goal after a brilliant foray up the ice. Smith was brought back based on his strong play after arriving in New York and in the playoffs. But he has looked nothing like that players the first part of the season. The physical, snarling blue liner has been replaced by one who has either been beaten to or outworked for loose pucks on the boards or outworked for position in front. It’s posisble Smith, who was benched games three and four this season, rides the line again Thursday against Tampa. But who would play in his stead, Nick Holden? Because Tony D’Angelo is unlikely to get called back up, the same said for Neal Pionk making a short-term appearance in New York. Meaning that Smith will get the chance and have to work his way through this rut on the ice.
For all the talk of the offensive struggles, and they clearly have been evident, the defense has been the most disappointing aspect so far this year. Coming into the season, we all thought that was the strength of the team. Through 13 games, at best, it has been average, and most likely, weak, which comes as a big surprise to all of us. Figuring what ails the D and fixing it may be a bigger focus than acquiring a pivot man or scoring winger. Doing so may fall to those in the squad or Hartford as well as Lindy Ruff, because importing another d-man makes little sense based on the players already in the organization.
The Chris Kreider-Zibanejad-Pavel Buchnevich line carried New York to the victory. Zib was a beast in the third, scouring once while adding a pair of assists. We knew what we were doing by pushing the #freebuch movement. Kreider notched the first goal of the frame in a sublime assist by Zib while Buch had the second, aided by another brilliant helped by Zib. The rally was capped on a PPG by Zib who went short side, aided by Kreider’s screen on Maxime Lagace, who never saw the puck. This trio, reunited yesterday, showed why they should remain together.
The focus entering the game was on Vigneault’s job status. Forty minutes into the game, if the decision was dependent on that contest, as had been rumored, the end result appeared to be determined. But give New York credit for rallying to score four goals. Part of the comeback is discounted because it was against an opponent playing on back-to-back nights and their third game in four days while using their fourth string goalie between the pipes. The tragic events of the play might have played a part in New York’s slow start but the emotion of the day certainly contributed to the third period rally.
The win may just temporarily change the story. A loss against Tampa, especially if the team comes out slow and flat, will mean more then the win Tuesday. But a strong performance against the Lightning followed by one Saturday versus the Panthers and especially Tuesday while taking on the Blue Jackets and this win will have even more meaning. For now, it may just be a delay in the inevitable both in terms of players and coaching