Game 39: NYR 3 BUF 2, OT, Miller wins Winter Classic for Blueshirts (rangers)

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Game 39: NYR 3 BUF 2, OT, Miller wins Winter Classic for Blueshirts

By Jan Levine

Jan 2, 2018 • 6:16 am

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The Rangers kicked off 2018 in fine fashion defeating the Sabres 3-2 in overtime in the Winter Classic. New York jumped to a 2-0 lead before Buffalo tallied in the first minute of the second and third periods to knot the game at two. J.J. Miller scored on the power play at 2:43 of the extra session to send the Rangers and their fans home happy from chilly Citi Field.

Game recap:

Condensed Game:

New York came out flying in the first, using their forecheck to create several Grade A chances. If not for Robin Lehner, instead of being down 2-0 in the first 8:20 of the game, the score could have easily been 3- or 4-0. That how good Lehner was early in the contest. After missing several chances, the reconstituted fourth line made their presence felt.

Jesper Fast injured his quadriceps December 21 and was slated to miss 2-3 weeks. Quickie took part in Sunday's practice as an extra d-man and was to be scratched for Monday's game. Fast did not take part of the rushes in warm-ups, but came back and told coach Alain Vigneault he was ready to go. when AV got the play from the team's doctors, Fast slid into Vinni Lettieri’s spot on the right side of a line with Boo Nieves and Paul Carey. That trio was aggressive from the opening faceoff and were rewarded with a goal on a nice feed from Nieves to Fast, who heard Carey calling for it and found the winger open in the slot and Carey beat Lehner between the glove and his body for a 1-0 lead. After the game, Fast said he felt fine, so look for that trio to remain intact.

A little over four minutes later it was 2-0. Miller fed Kevin Hayes, who did a little spin at the side of net and put a backhand over Lehner's pads where Michael Grabner was able to get his stick on it first and add to the Rangers' lead with his 18th of the season. At that point, the Rangers had 13 shots and most Blueshirts' fans might have been thinking this was a cakewalk. But then Buffalo woke up from their New Years' Day slumber with Rangers failing to make simple play, instead aiming for pretty ones. When that happened, the Sabres began to outwork the Rangers, getting to loose pucks to maintain possession while the Blueshirts stopped skating, In addition, Buffalo were the recipients of several giveaways from the Blueshirts. To aid their cause, the Rangers took three straight penalties in just under six minutes of action starting at 13:50 mark. The parade to the sin bin began with Brendan Smith, who was followed by Hayes and Nick Holden.

The second period began with Holden in the penalty box. With a chance to make it 3-0. Grabner was stoned in the first minute of second on a breakaway, In the subsequent rush, the lead was halved on a Buffalo goal, as Ryan McDonagh was outmuscled to the puck by Sam Reinhart for the PPG. Marc Staal had his man, but McDonagh, who I thought had a pretty poor game overall, though he did break up a 2-on-1 possible golden chance in overtime tipping the puck away from Jack Eichel, as did Holden, was unable to tie-up Reinhart. From there, Buffalo carried play most of the period with New York mishandling the puck at nearly every turn, failing to chip the puck out and make the easy play, but looking for the pretty one of the choppy ice. With another chance to expand the lead, Grabner was stopped again, this time Lehner made a glove save in last minute of frame

Up 2-1 to start the third, the Rangers failed to clear the zone - sense a pattern - as McDonagh and Rick Nash each blow chances to get the puck out. In addition, the captain screened Henrik Lundqvist, who never saw Rasmus Ristolainen's shot, short-side, just under the crossbar for the tying goal. In the second period, Evander Kane's deflection of Marco Scandella's shot pinged the bar. This time, Ristolainen's shot was just under the bar for the tally. To show how much the tide had turned, as noted above the Rangers had 13 shots in the first 8:20 of the game, they added just 13 more over the next 32:54. The game was fairly even rest of the way, though I still felt the Sabres had a slight edge in play. Late in the game, Hank stoned Zemgus Girgensons alone in slot with just under 2:30 remaining to keep the score knotted and send the contest into the extra session.

In the overtime, Evan Rodriques was robbed in the shot. After the save, Jacob Josefson tripped Jimmy Vesey at the 2:15 mark of the period to create the 4-on-3 chance for the Rangers. Due to the conditions, the teams switched sides 15 seconds into the power play, On the subsequent draw, New York gained possession - which was a huge, little focused on play, especially since Buffalo won the faceoff battle for the game - setting up the game-winner. Another unsung play was Kevin Shattenkirk sliding slightly left, creating a clear lane past Ryan O'Reilly up top for the shot, which Miller tipped and then had inside position on Scandella to poke it into empty net and send the faithful home happy - cold, but happy.

With the victory, Lundqvist improved to 4-0-0 in outdoor games, with 1.98 goals-against average and .934 save percentage. In addition, with the win, Lundqvist also earned his 423rd career victory to tie Tony Esposito for eighth place in NHL history. Lundqvist was excellent throughout the game, coming up with several key saves, especially when Buffalo turned the tide of the game.

Just before Josefson’s overtime penalty, the Sabres had a two-on-one break. The pass grazed Ryan McDonagh’s stick and went through Jack Eichel’s skates

A few pictures and another look at the game winning goal:

In Olympic news, former Rangers' players or draft picks, Bobby Sanguinetti, Matt Gilroy, and Chad Kolarik were named to the US Olympic team.

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