The Rangers won their third in a row, defeating the Sabres 3-1 at MSG on Tuesday, Buffalo outplayed New York for good stretches of the game, but Igor Shesterkin was up to the task while making 36 saves overall. Two third-period goals made the difference, the first by Alexis Lafreniere on a beautiful feed by Ryan Strome and the second by Mika Zibanejad on an even better pass by Chris Kreider on the power play. The Rangers take on the islanders on the front end of a home-and-home Thursday at MSG.
Game recap:
Our live correspondent has your story from @TheGarden. @Blockaid1 pic.twitter.com/seGT2lCX4v
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 28, 2021
A few thoughts
1) Schedule: Boston defeated Pittsburgh 3-1 while the Islanders fell 1-0 to the Capitals. New York is four behind Boston, who have a pair of games in hand and five points behind the Isles, who have a game in hand. Of the Blueshirts' six games remaining, the next two are against the Isles and last two versus the Bruins which bookend a pair against the Capitals. They have a slim shot, but they likely will need to run the table.
The Isles have two games against Buffalo and two games against the Devils immediately following their set with the Rangers. concluding their season against Boston. The Bruins play two versus the Sabres and two versus the Devils before the pair against the Rangers. They conclude the season with games against the Isles and Caps.
2) Shesterkin: he was very efficient in his movements, wasting little effort. Beaten only once, Igor made several brilliant saves while limiting rebounds. The team's 7-2 hot streak has come about as Shesterkin found his form.
3) Lafreniere - the kid is starting to figure it out. Even when he struggled, the work ethic never faltered. But from hearing/reading the post-comments, more impressive was that even as he struggled, he never let it get him down or change his personality. Tough for a 29-year old, let alone a 19-year old.
"His attitude is fantastic," Brendan Smith said of the No. 1 overall pick. "It’s infectious. When you see somebody smile like that, you light up a room. I love that about him. He enjoys coming to the rink, he enjoys playing hockey, he enjoys being around the guys and he makes everybody else feel good because of how he is. It’s a great quality to have."
For the icing on top, according to Strome, Laf called the goal on his shift. Placed on the line with Strome and Artemi Panarin due to shifts resulting from the power play time, Laf one timed a feed from Strome for what proved to be the game-winning tally.
"He actually said before we went on for that shift, we changed lines a little bit, and he said, ‘We're gonna go get one,' " Strome said. "You saw the emotion on his face. He was pretty happy, so a big goal and a big win."
"He's really played well lately, and he's been playing well for about a month now," Rangers coach David Quinn said. "I know people are making a big deal of what stats were earlier in the year, but I think he just played his 50th game. In a normal season, he would have had 32 more games to go – playing the way he is and playing on the line he is. He's got 10 goals, so he's having a really good rookie year."With no training camp, with no exhibition games, it's hard for these young players to get acclimated to the National Hockey League," he added. "If he had a three-week training camp and six exhibition games, the beginning of his season might have been a little bit different. But I think it speaks to his commitment, to his coachability, to his love for the game – and that's the thing that really jumps out at you when you coach him, is how much he loves hockey and what an infectious personality he has, on top of all the talent that he has."
4) Brendan Smith: his play this year has increased his value on the free agency market. Smith has been solid in his own zone and his gola Tuesday was his fifth of the season, tying his career-high. which he scored in 2013-14 when he was a 24-year blueliner in Detroit.
"I love playing for these guys. We're all buying in, and that's what you need to do."
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) April 28, 2021
Preach, Smitty: https://t.co/qKHymjXwk5
Shesty: https://t.co/d6MGQ4IbmU
Stromer: https://t.co/H4pseeBBJM
Coach Quinn: https://t.co/9NzktZYKO3 pic.twitter.com/C2Kgr9qrWZ
Six regular season games left, none of them easy. Go 6-0 and all the pressure shifts to the Isles and the Bruins. What hurts is that in each of the other three divisions, New York would be in a playoff spot, but that's fantasyland and not real life. New York has a chance to dream, we just hope it's not a nightmare.