The Rangers defeated the Devils 4-3 in a game that will be remembered for the line brawl that transpired basically at the opening faceoff, though officially, it started two seconds into the contest. Beyond the camaraderie shown by the Blueshirts and the fact that the fight might have been a galvanizing action, the two points were key and maybe the key. Losing that game after being up 2-0 would have been devastating, rallying to pull out the victory - despite the second period missteps - was huge.
Game recap:
Rangers lines vs. Devils:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Roslovic
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Wennberg-Kakko
Vesey-Goodrow-Rempe
A few thoughts:
1) The Fights - we all knew Matt Rempe and Kurtis MacDermid were going to fight. Once MacDermid was active and Rempe inserted back in the lineup, the latter ostensibly to have the dust up that probably should have occurred last game, a throw down was all but secured. As soon as the opening lineups were announced, the only question was how quickly would the gloves be dropped. We got that answer right away.
The fight served to connect the team to a level they may have been previously. A decision was made by the others not to allow Rempe to be on an island all by himself. The end result was that Rempe, Barclay Goodrow, K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba all were tossed as each were viewed as "secondary" bouts to the primary, which was Jimmy Vesey and Curtis Lazar. Those four were joined by MacDermid, Kevin Bahl, John Marino and Chris Tierney for New Jersey.
How those four throwing down their gloves a split second after Vesey is viewed as secondary is beyond me. It's kind of a bastardization of the rule. In addition, the league had to know this was coming, and as you, did a lousy job of being ready or policing it. Many will argue that an incident like this is a black eye for the NHL, and I can understand the view, since it seems to advocate fighting. But those in the arena, watching on TV or fans of the sport might have a counter argument. I wouldn't argue that this should be the norm, but I would prefer a fight than stick swinging or cheap shots.
Rempe was going to have to answer for the two hits. My hope is that he also learned from this to be more careful on the ice with his checks. He also does need to learn to fight better as he took some shots last night from MacDermid, and after seeing what happened with Derek Boogaard etc. and the cumulative effect of punches to the head, I prefer him to be a deterrent with his skill rather than his fights all the time.
2) Ice time for the blue line - down two d-man, Peter Laviolette agreed with Adam Fox's assessment after the fight that 30 minutes each would be expected. As noted by Vince Mercogliano, Fox came up just short of that lofty marker at 29:39, while Erik Gustafsson led the team with 29:42 in his first game back after missing the previous four with an upper-body injury. The Rangers' other two remaining defensemen, Ryan Lindgren and Braden Schneider, finished with 27:17 and 27:36, respectively. Yeoman's work, which also was done by the Devils, but they were missing their third-pair d-men not their first or second.
“We didn’t go out to make a mockery of the game,” Fox, who took the shot on which Chris Kreider scored the game-winner. “Guys stood up for another, you knew that they wanted an answer for the hit and Remp said that and other guys had to step up and back up each other and that’s what they did.”
3) Game flow - after the fight, the Rangers (51-21-4) dominated the first period. Artemi Panarin's 45th goal of the season and Alexis Lafrenière's 26th helped build a 2-0 lead. They went into intermission with all the momentum and came out for the second like the Monstars stole their mojo. New Jersey, six points out of the Eastern Conference's final wild card spot, carried play the entire second period, notching three goals while the Rangers had just six shots on net.
This has become all too common of a pattern lately with New York. Allowing teams to get back into games. Taking their foot off the gas pedal. Lacking a killer instinct. All of that will be needed to win in the postseason. In the third, Kaapo Kakko showed his strength and skill, holding off a Hughes brother, to tie the game and extend his point streak to five games. Then, as the power play created by Brendan Smith's hold wore down with nothing doing, Panarin took matters into his own hands.
Panarin carried the puck up ice, created space on the wall and found Fox, who found more room and put a low shot on net. Kreider was in front of the net and tipped it home for his 107h career goal on the man-advantage, moving him into third place all-time on the team's list. Until that point, neither he nor Mika Zibanejad did much, which also has become too frequent of a pattern, but he came through when needed.
Laviolette needs to give more time to the Will Cuylle-Alex Wenberg-Kakko trio, as they have meshed well together. Jack Roslovic has done little, like his linemates, which is a concern. But the Panarin line came to the fore again to give New York a five-point lead in the division and three-point lead in the conference again. Dallas won their eighth straight to sit one point shy of the Rangers for the President's Trophy.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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