The Rangers got a much-needed victory in their 4-3 overtime win over the Flames on Sunday. It's not the way you would draw up a victory, but desperate times, and these are just that, so a win by any means was welcome. There were several interesting stories in the win, so thought I would touch on them below, cognizant that a decent amount of these may have been covered partially already.
- Coming into the game, the Rangers were 1-15 when surrendering the first goal. That record is ugly, but for some context, Pittsburgh, who leads the division, as of the start of the weekend, was 5-8-1 when scored upon first, which is seventh best in the league. To add to the degree of difficult, New York was down 2-0 and then 3-2 before rallying for the win. With the aforementioned Penguins in on Wednesday, the same comeback strategy would not be advisable.
- Derek Stepan was finally Derek Stepan last night. His first goal was huge to start the rally and then his play that resulted in the goal by Chris Kreider was obviously another key. If the Rangers are to do anything at all this year, beyond the players always mentioned - Hank, Nash, etc. - getting Stepan back on the beam and productive may be just as important.
- Lundqvist is clearly fighting himself and struggling. His reaction after the shootout showed all we need to know about where he and the team are. They are mentally fragile. The lack of confidence is palpable, which is why few of us felt that they would or could come back from two goals down. In addition, even during the shootout, when Calgary had a shot to win it, who, by raise of hands, really thought they would win? I was screaming at the TV, one time, Hank, just one time. When Zuccarello scored, and it was evened. When Richards scored, then again. When D Moore scored and he was beaten by Brody. In between when they needed stops. When Pouliot scored, I was actually pacing. Baby or small steps. Get a win, by any means possible, and move on.
- Benoit Pouliot - the Forsberg-esque goal is a move he has used before but doesn't diminish how awesome if a goal it was. That skill is why he will repeatedly get chances and why he was the fourth overall pick in the draft. His inconsistency is why one-year deals and possible movement from team to team looks to be his likely future. If he could ever get consistency, which is saying a lot, he wouldn't be on the fringes of playing nightly.
- Kreider was also all over the place. He used his size and speed to create chances and then his size to get position to score the game-tying goal. The four-minute penalty was unfortunate but he was trying to make a play late and it happens. Would rather see an error of commission than omission, knowing he is using his size to try and make a play.
- McIlrath got the first fight out of the way, taking on a heavyweight in Brian McGrattan. He did okay but earned respect for taking on someome of the ilk. Of course, defensively, we have seen through a few games that he is major work in progress. McIlrath appears to be so focused on making a big, game-changing hit, he ends up out of position, like he was last Thursday against Columbus. Hopefully, as he settles in, the need to "establish his presence with authority" will diminish a bit and come in the flow of the game without getting out of position. Also, as Glen mentioned, on the post-game, it was discussed that Ulfie and McIlrath are working together using video, which either means Larry Brooks was wrong in his column or AV assigns all video work out by position and he doesn’t handle any of it.
- Pat Leonard wrote the following in his blog, and needless to say, scary concept how seven D were whittled to two. "Alain Vigneault started seven defensemen on Sunday but only had four at most that he could rely on. At points he only had two, in Ryan McDonagh (31:01) and Dan Girardi (25:30), who were split up most of the night but played together frequently on the penalty kill. Anton Stralman (23:36) and Michael Del Zotto (21:16, four shots on goal) both logged heavy minutes, but Stralman was a culprit on two of Calgary’s goals and Del Zotto committed a couple of scary turnovers. Justin Falk made one great sliding stop to bail out Del Zotto on a second-period giveaway, but mostly Falk had a tough night playing 9:35. John Moore continued to look lost during his 9:56. Rookie Dylan McIlrath logged just 5:08 on a team-low 11 shifts and continued to struggle, including a first-period lapse in which Flames forward Lance Bouma snuck behind both Del Zotto and then McIlrath to receive a pass for a breakaway that Henrik Lundqvist stopped."
To be honest, Girardi was good and better than he has been lately but McDonagh was unconscious. Playing the entire four-minute penalty kill including the last 3:16 as part if a 4-on-3 is a testament to how good he is. We are spoiled and biased, but to me, he is a Norris Trophy worth d-man. The remainder of the blueline, as pointed out by Leonard, all has their own glaring issues during the game, but it also shows that how far Taylor Pyatt has fallen and how little confidence AV has in Aaron Asham, who also was a healthy scratch.
The Rangers got a needed win. With Pittsburgh in Wednesday, even though the Pens will be without Letang, Orpik, Neal and maybe Malkin, their skill level is still world-class and they didn’t miss a beat Monday, It's a major step up for New York, and if they play as they did Sunday, it could get ugly early, though I expect a much better performance from them.