The Rangers split their weekend series, Friday, up 1-0 over Edmonton heading into the third period, New York allowed four straight goals in the frame, the first two coming in a span of 70 seconds. The Rangers rallied late but fell 4-3 to the Oilers in a game that left you frustrated with how the team played.
Saturday, up 2-0 on Buffalo in the first, New York let down their guard and were tied at two early in the second. After taking a 3-2 lead in the third, another defensive breakdown allowed the Sabres to tie the game. Chris Kreider won the game in OT on a sublime play and feed from Mika Zibanejad but Igor Shesterkin was the true star of the game with three massive saves late in the third and in overtime to enable the victory. The Blueshirts hit the Xmas break first in the Metro Division and Eastern Conference at 23-8-1 and are off until Wednesday when they face the Capitals.
Happy Holidays:
🎄 Carol Of The Blueshirts 🎄@NYRangers x @Trans_Siberian pic.twitter.com/dcyWnRtXpR
— AJ Castiglia (@ajcastigliaa) December 24, 2023
Game recaps:
Oilers
Lindgren – Fox Miller – Trouba Gustafsson – Schneider
Shesterkin Quick
A few thoughts: 1) East-West and lack of effort against the Oilers: the majority of Friday night's post-game comments, a few of them below, centered on the team's East-West play and lack of effort. The combination of the two allowed the Oilers to carry play for good portions of the game, especially in the third. But that doesn't tell the full story, as Edmonton were stoned several times in the first two periods by Jonathan Quick, who had a brilliant game. in the loss.
This is an age-old story. David Quinn used to rail about and we know Gerard Gallant did. Coach Peter Laviolette didn't go off, which might have been due to the Rangers playing today. But New York was better Saturday, Sometimes a bit too loose, but overall a much better performance.
“I thought we were living on the edge most of the night,… Kreider said. “We weren’t super crisp. We didn’t bear down on pucks as much as we should have..I definitely think we could have taken it to another level in the third instead of kind of taking a step back.""We talked about some of the east-west stuff and them wanting to get behind our D," Kreider added. "Them having a ton of speed and skill and waiting for the first opportunity to take off when those plays don't necessarily work. I don't know if it’s impatience, but we didn't really stick with some of the things that looked like (it) might work early, which is establishing a shot and getting bodies to the net and jumping on loose pucks."
“It was just a little bit too much east-west,… Blake Wheeler said. “I think when our team is playing at our best, we’re playing with a ton of speed heading north. We’re really tough to handle when we play that way. We’ve got a lot of guys who can skate really well..When we try to make plays at the blue line or try to force plays in at the top of circles, especially with world-class players on the other team, it’s not the best formula.…
Brooks: The Rangers spoke about a lack of patience that caused east-west turnovers. They did not play a straight line game. They rarely forced Skinner to make a second save. They rarely forced the netminder to go side-to-side. The Blueshirts had little on the forecheck or on the rush game.
2) Shesterkin - if there was any question if Igor was back, tonight answered that. Ignore the three goals against, as that does not tell the whole story. Shesterkin was brilliant when needed, making several key saves to keep the game tied. As noted above, Igor made three key saves, including stoning a breakaway by Casey Mittelstadt, to allow New York a chance to get the win. If there is one specific positive I take from tonight's win, it was Shesterkin's performance.
There's no overtime winner if there's no Igor Shesterkin.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 24, 2023
pic.twitter.com/DAbEofKcKT
3) Erik Gustafsson-Braden Schneider were pretty woof bad these 48 hours. Ryan Lindgren and K'Andre Miller had their rough moments and Adam Fox didn't have a great pair of games, but that duo was brutal. Schneider has to learn to take the body more often as his failure to do so led to at least one goal. New York's continued backing up at the blue line also resulted in a goal against Saturday. Schneider was rightly benched after the third Buffalo goal. That pairing has to figure it out and maybe Schneider could use a game in the press box.
4) Kreider-Zibanejad-Blake Wheeler - this line is figuring it out. Kreider netted the game winner off a Zib feed. Zibanejad has seven goals and six assists during his current seven-game point streak and is up to 13 goals and 20 assists in 33 games following a slow start. Wheeler scored Friday off a back, touch pass by Zib and added an assist Saturday, giving him three goals and four assists in his last six games.
Post-game, the words used by all were chemistry and comfortability. The more the trio stays together, the better they learn to read each other's game. Communication between each other has been vital. Wheeler has shown increased quickness that was lacking early, which hasn't hurt their play and production either.
AND A PARTRIDGE IN A PEAR TREE#NoQuitInNY | @JagermeisterUSA pic.twitter.com/OA8WMJE2YP
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 24, 2023
5) Resilience - I think we all felt coming into the game off a bad loss yesterday, New York would be better tonight. They certainly were. Now 23-8-1, the Rangers have only lost back-to-back games once. In addition, they are 5-0 in the second half of back-to-backs.