The Rangers broke their three game losing streak with a 6-3 win over the Hurricanes on Monday. Carolina needed a victory to remain in playoff contention, but continued their recent slide with the loss. New York faces Pittsburgh on Wednesday.
Jimmy Vesey notched his first career-hat trick, Mats Zuccarello scored two goals, including the 100th of his career, Pavel Buchnevich and Mika Zibanejad each had three assists, and Alexandar Georgiev made 41 saves to help the Rangers (31-32-7) end a four-game home losing streak (0-3-1). New York hadn't won at home since defeating the Flames 4-3 on Feb. 9, over a month ago. The one major negative in the win was the potential loss of Tony DeAngelo, who injured his ankle and will have an MRI today. If ADA is sidelined, Ryan Sproul likely gets called back up. But I would bring up Brendan Smith and see what he has the next 12 games, especially since he is a possible buyout of trade candidate - with lots of salary assumed - this offseason.
Game recap:
MSG Post-Game:
New York played an okay game. Defensively, still not great, as Georgiev needed to make 41 saves, several of them top quality, to get the win. To paraphrase Steve Valiquette, Georgiev’s play since he got called up can be summarized in three C’s. Calm between the pipes, not a lot of extra movement. Cool, since little appears to phase him, benefitting from the work he has done with Benoit Allaire and Ready when receiving the nod. Competitive, as he doesn’t give up on a play and will battle to make the save. The Rangers may have found their back up for next season.
The Rangers’ first goal was created by Mika Zibanejad’s faceoff win with the puck coming back to Neal Pionk at point. His shot missed net, but a good screen in front blocked Scott Darling’s view, and Zuccarello scored from a sharp angle at 9:06 of the first period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. After struggling to score, Zucc’s goal was the third straight game in which he lit the lamp. Jesper Fast’s neutral zone turnover allowed Carolina to enter the zone on a 3-on-2. New York got a bit unlucky as the Canes’ first shot was blocked, rebounding back to Teuvo Teravainen, who scored at 14:32 to tie it 1-1.
Vesey got the first of his three goals, scoring at 1:52 of the second period to make it 2-1. Buchnevich won the face-off in the right circle before passing across to Vesey, who kicked the puck to his stick and shot past Darling from the left side of the a lot. Once again, a faceoff victory led to the tally. Lee Stempniak, who hasn’t lit the lamp on seemingly forever, scored off a rebound at 7:48 to tie it 2-2.
In continuing the theme of faceoffs making a difference, the Rangers’ third goal came about in a similar manner to the first two. Faceoff draw but Chris Kreider comes in to get puck back to Buch at point and he sets the key screen in front. Vladislav Namestnikov scored off a deflection from Buchnevich's shot from the point six seconds into a power play at 11:51 to make it 3-2, which was the score coming into the third.
Victor Rask tied it 3-3 with a power-play goal at 8:23 of the third period, blasting one from the point that Georgiev never saw. But Vesey continued his strong game, netting his second. This one was a goal scorers tally, short side, high blocker from the left circle off the rush at 12:15 of the third period to give the Rangers a 4-3 lead. Darling likely wanted that one back, but bar down, short side, top shelf is a heck of a shot.
Zuccarello scored an empty-net goal at 17:23 to make it 5-3 before Vesey completed the hat trick with an empty-net goal at 19:36 to extend the lead to 6-3, which was the final score. Good for Vesey, who needed a big game and will continue to see heavy minutes the next 12 games as New York looks to the future. Buchnevich made the most of his 15 minutes; that time on Ice mirroring his linemates, Namestnikov and Vesey.
I know the main topic on the blog and twitter has been tanking. Players will or should always play hard, as evaluations are ongoing and that’s their job. We all would like a higher draft pick but just because you finish further down in the standings that doesn’t guarantee anything, as we saw with New Jersey and Philly last year. In addition, there is something to be said for continuing to play hard and hopefully growth through experience for the young blueliners and wingers.
In continuing what I said last week, here is the run down for the last 16 games of the season. After losing to Winnipeg 3-0 on Tuesday, Tampa 5-3 on Thursday and Florida 4-3 in a shootout Saturday night, New York defeated Carolina 6-3 last night tonight and Pittsburgh is next on the docket Wednesday. Following these games, contests versus St. Louis, Columbus and Pittsburgh follow, after which it's Washington (home-and-road), Tampa (last home game) and Carolina (road) to close out March. In April, New York faces the Devils, Islanders and Flyers, all on the road. The victory kept Rangers sit 23rd in the league, just ahead of Chicago, who is 24th, and one pint behind the Isles, who have a game in hand, 22nd in the league.