The Rangers saw 2-0 and 3-2 leads go by the wayside but avoided a third straight shootout on a Derick Brassard goal in overtime to defeat Detroit 4-3 on Wednesday. The game had just about everything, breakouts passes to create odd-man rushes, a penalty shot, blown leads, officiating that left you wonder if they were watching the same game we were, etc. New York had just enough to get past a Detroit team that came in having played the night before and it showed early on before the Red Wings got their legs.
The good and the bad:
The good: - The four New York goals were a mix between power and speed leading to counter attacks. The first and last goals - each on the man-advantage, which in itself is almost miraculous - came about due to strong work in front of the next by Rick Nash. On the first, his screen of Jonas Gustavsson resulted in the puck hitting his backside and going in. On the second, he created traffic in front of Gustavsson, leading to the rebound that Brassard buried, and no Mike Babcock, he was not in the crease like Johan Franzen was the other night when a goal was disallowed. - The two middle markers for New York were due to speed on the counter. The first was off a great pass from Matt Hunwick - something we have a lot lately - to Martin St. Louis through the neutral zone and he beat Gustavsson five hole. Whether it's the law of averages, things evening out or the move back to wing (my belief), St. Louis is locked and loaded right now. The second was dish by Chris Kreider to Dominic Moore, who made a great play with his skate to control the puck, in the neutral zone. Moore and Lee Stempniak used their speed to create a 2-on-1 that Stempniak buried top-shelf. - Henrik Lundqvist, other than failing to secure the near post on Daniel clear's goal was excellent. He finally stopped a breakaway - this one a penalty shot by Gustav Nyqvist - which came a bit before St. Louis' goal. Lundqvist was strong throughout, for the most part controlling rebounds. In addition, one thing I have seen the first part of the season is that Lundqvist looks a lot better and more confident playing the puck behind the net. - Hunwick. John Moore may be getting Wally Pipp'd. Hunwick was known to have good wheels but he has been steady in his own zone while contributing a lot more than we thought offensively. It will be very hard, even when everyone is back, to take out Hunqick if he continues to play like this. In addition, despite the constant movement, the D overall has been pretty good, especially the two veterans in Dan Girardi and Marc Staal. - Resiliency. Despite all the injuries, the blown lead the last two games and the two shootout losses prior to Wednesday's contest, the Rangers have shown no quarter. They have competed hard nightly while playing several one-goal games. Regardless of how they got to that point, New York has five one-goal in their six victories.
The bad: - Blown leads. The Rangers blew two leads for the second straight game. While they earned points in each contest, winning Wednesday, the inability to hold a lead is concerning. Part of that could be due to all the roster changes and unfamiliarity, so hopefully this clears up when the lines get more settled, but it's an area that needs to be cleared up quickly. - Inconsistent play. After a strong first half of the first period, Detroit turned up the pressure, but NY was able to withstand that. However, in the third, after the Rangers got a 3-2 lead, Detroit carried play, which ended up with the "penalty" call on Martin St. Louis (more on that below). New York has to avoid the wide swings in play moving forward, but that too could be due to the scrambled lineup on the ice. - Officiating. Yahoo's Puck Daddy wrote it best about the poor officiating: "But hooboy, was it a bumpy ride for Tim Peel and Steve Kozari. They missed an obvious dive on Gustavsson, calling an goalie interference penalty on Dominic Moore (who did make contact). They missed the Hagelin high-stick. They missed a Dan Cleary goal, that had to be later confirmed by the war room. They made a complete hash out of a late third-period sequence in which Marty St. Louis hooked Justin Abdelkader and Abdelkader embellished – the penalties had Abdelkader off for hooking and Marc Staal of the Rangers off for diving, after he fell over a sliding Abdelkader." One missed call not mentioned was the shot to the back of the head by Franzen on Hagelin that knocked off his helmet. It's kind of hard for several to take a sport seriously with such mismanagement by those who are supposed to be policing it on the ice.
Good win and hopefully the team gets Derek Stepan back Saturday against Toronto.