The Rangers won their second straight contest, defeating the Flames 3-1 on Friday. On his 36th birthday, Henrik Lundqvist was brilliant again, making 50 saves for the second straight game, this time on 51 shots. Hank became the first goaltender in NHL history to win consecutive games with 50 or more saves since the stat was first tracked in 1955-56. In addition, he is the first Ranger netminder to stop 50 shots in back-to-back games for the first time since Gump Worsley in 1963.
Game recap:
MSG Post-game:
Kevin Hayes kicked off the scoring with his 18th of the season, setting a new career-high, and his seventh to go with five assists in the last 11 games. Ryan Spooner set up the play pushing the puck forward, which was stopped by Jon Gillies, but Hayes pushed the puck past the Calgary netminder. Brett Kulak, who only seems to score against the Rangers, got his second of his career, both against New York to tie the game.
Pavel Buchnevich gave the Rangers the lead in the first minute of the second as the puck just crossed the goal line following two saves by Gillies on a sequence that began with an unreal diving save by Lundqvist on Backlund with his open blocker hand. Hank went side to side, dropped his stick and made that save basically with his hand. Ryan Spooner completed the scoring just past the midway point of the frame on a breakaway following a brilliant stretch pass from Tony Deangelo. Spooner has seven points (one goal, six assists) in three games since being acquired by the Rangers in a trade with the Boston Bruins on Feb. 25.
All the trading New York made was done to look to the future. While the players aren't tanking the season, the expectation was that the Blueshirts would fade down the standing, earning a higher pick. With two straight wins, after Friday's games, New York trailed the Hurricanes and Blue Jackets by five points in the race for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference. Lundqvist has been the difference the last two games, why the 0-6-1 mark before the trade deadline has resulted in a pair of wins post-deadline.
A look at Lundqvist's biggest three-game workload:
Henrik Lundqvist's heaviest career workloads (updated for last night)
β HockeyStatMiner (@HockeyStatMiner) March 3, 2018
Holy outlier, Batman!#nyr pic.twitter.com/jsE53KWzKI
His best saves last night:
π The best saves from @HLundqvist30βs 2nd straight 5Γ―ΒΈΒΓ’ΖΒ£0Γ―ΒΈΒΓ’ΖΒ£ save win! #NYR pic.twitter.com/uife3S489P
β New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 3, 2018
Offense hasn't been a issue, but defense, oof. Breakdown after breakdown, open spaces, it's fun hockey and Lundqvist remains engaged throughout but sooner or later, he will wear down. The workload he has been under as a whole, but especially lately, is staggering. He is resting tonight with Alexandar Georgiev between the pipes. Right now, the goal should and is be to get the young blueliners experience, with that comes growing pains, and we have seen that. A good graph of this is below:
NYR defense @ 5v5, via Corsica and Natural Stat Trick. Sorted by Game Score
β Jeff Gorton the Tank Engine (@RangerSmurf) March 1, 2018
Quick thoughts on the newcomers
-Sproul should get another shot
-Gilmour's earned a spot for next year
-Pionk getting a lot of trust, but may still need some time
-O'Gara has embraced the tank pic.twitter.com/lgZUbfGBOI
After Edmonton tonight, where David Desharnais opts back in for Peter Holland, it's Winnipeg at home Tuesday followed by a match-up with Tampa or Rangers south in Florida. Dan Girardi and JT Miller scored for the Lightning today while Ryan McDonagh is due back for the contest Thursday. Enjoy watching McDavid.