The Rangers won their second straight on their four-game road trip, defeating Colorado 6-3 Thursday. New York was very good in the first, took their foot off the gas pedal in the second before rebounding and were nightmarish the first 13 or so minutes in the third, before closing strong. There were several good performances with a few others that wer nightmarish at best, but the team is 3-1-1 in their last five without Henrik Lundqvist and 8-3-1 in their past 12 contests.
The win was triggered by the solid play again of the third line with a good performance by Cam Talbot. The Rangers' first goal came on a brilliant feed from Kevin Hayes to Dan Boyle, who caught Colorado in a horrific change to come in all along on a breakaway. Boyle, who scored his fourth goal in seven games, deked Semyon Varlamov out of his you know what and beat him for a 1-0 lead. Later in the first, Talbot made a brilliant glove save, keeping NY in the lead. The book on Talbot is out, go high to to the glove side, so making that save had to be a good confidence boost. The Rangers were strong in the opening stanza to finish the period up 1-0.
In the second, Hayes showed his size, speed, reach and skill, going wide to beat Tyson Barrie and then curling back in to beat Varlamov and make it 2-0 just 1:47 into the second. After that, it was all Colorado for a while. You knew that they would come hard eventually, and on the shift they scored, they had five shots after getting just six until that point. Gabriel Landeskog was the beneficiary of going hard to the net, as the puck deflected off him and past Talbot. Less than a minute later, New York took one penalty, followed by another eight seconds later and it was a 5-on-3 for 1:52. In terms of possible turning points, this was won, as the Rangers killed it off with strong work and 32 seconds after they expired. Mats Zuccarello made it 3-1 with a laser under the crossbar.
The third period was all Colorado for the first 13 minutes, as they had the first 12 shots on net. Talbot stood tall, holding off the onslaught for a while. The Avalanche made it 3-2 on a horrific turnover by Martin St. Louis, which landed him on the bench for the rest of the frame. Jarome Iginla picked his pocket and then banged in the rebound off Max Talbot's initial shot. Four minutes later, Tanner Glass cruised through the neutral and his own zone, allowing Jan Hejda to get a first and then rebound shot off, the latter which beat Talbot to even the game.
The third line once again came to the rescue. Kevin Klein got the puck to Hayes, who was looking for Carl Hagelin the whole time. Hagelin was able to find the puck in the defenseman's skates and beat Varlamov to make it 4-3. That third line was beastly. Hayes had the goal, two assists and a plus-four rating, giving him eight points (three goals, five assists) in his last seven games as he continues his ascension. Hagelin had his goal and was a plus-two. Miller had an assist and was a plus-three. Notice how we don't hear anyone saying how the Rangers need a third line center or Hagelin may be gone or not worth a big deal as an RFA, as the production had increased. More or just as important though, their play has stepped up, so even if the output wasn't there, they are driving possession and creating chances.
The clincher came off of who else, Rick Nash. His hustle prevented an icing. He was knocked down several times and looked gassed. Yet, he found a way to stay in the play, using his long reach to protect the puck as he came around the net to score wide post on a wrap around. That marker gave Nash the goal-scoring lead with 34. The final score was bolster by a Ryan McDonagh, empty netter, which came after a nice read and interception at center ice.
Now for the negatives. During the game, I was surprised that AV hadn't shortened the lineup. Well, he did it in the third period. Derek Stepan played just 3:30. St. Louis saw only four shifts, and none after his egregious turnover. Glass was mostly stapled to the bench after his cruise by and penalty, though he got on after the empty netter and almost took another dump penalty.
The Kreider-Stepan-MSL combination isn't working. But with the top line playing so well with Zucc there and the third line ascending, those three will have to stick together. Stepan will get righted and Kreider should turn it around, meaning my level of concern is with St. Louis. He is better than this. I don't think he is wearing down, but it has to be more than just a slump. MSL struggled after coming to NY last year but the effort was there and he came up big in the playoffs. Lately, that effort seems to be lacking and its not just the 14-game goalless streak. The trade last season still makes sense, given what MSL did last year and the salary Callahan wanted. Granted, the loss of last year's and this year's first rounder hurt, offset slightky by gaining a second, but overall, it's still a deal most would have done.
Defensively, NY had too many stretches where they were invisible. Talbot came up big early and enough late to get this win. But if they play this way Monday against the Islanders, it could get ugly. For now though. The focus has to be Arizona on Saturday and then it can shift to their division and tunnel rivals.