Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers: More Positives Than Negatives in Loss to the Devils

By John Williams

Mar 21, 2017; Newark, NJ, USA; New York Rangers right wing Rick Nash (61) celebrates his goal against the New Jersey Devils during the third period at Prudential Center. The Devils defeated the Rangers 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 21, 2017; Newark, NJ, USA; New York Rangers right wing Rick Nash (61) celebrates his goal against the New Jersey Devils during the third period at Prudential Center. The Devils defeated the Rangers 3-2. Mandatory Credit: Ed Mulholland-USA TODAY Sports /
facebooktwitterreddit

The New York Rangers may have lost in overtime last night against the Devils in New Jersey, but they played one of their best games of the season.

That. Was. A. Hockey. Game.

Even though the New York Rangers ended up losing the latest chapter in the Hudson River rivalry last night by a score of 3-2 in overtime, they have to feel good about how they played.

The Rangers dominated for large chunks of the game. They had a 60.4 CF% in the matchup as they kept possession of the puck in their offensive end for long stretches of the tilt. Although the Devils are in the basement of the standings, they are still a professional hockey team who plays their best against the Rangers and their other rivals. That 60.4 CF% is insane.

That 60.4 CF% is insane. It shows what happens when the team puts it’s best possible lineup out on the ice and utilizes them correctly. Pavel Buchnevich had an 87.5 CF%! The Rangers had a total of six players with a CF% better than 70%.

With that said, the Rangers dominated this game, and Cory Schneider was on his game too. He robbed the Rangers numerous times last night, including multiple times in overtime. Raanta was great as well in net for the Rangers and ironically was much better in this overtime loss than he was in the team’s overtime win at the Rock last month.

Taking Care of Business

The most important takeaway from this game was how the Rangers stood up for themselves. When Nick Holden made his hit on Miles Wood that rammed him into the glass–a clean, but unfortunate hit–Miles Wood looked like something out of MLB Slugfest 2006, when a hitter gets pegged by a pitcher and he charges the mound, as he charged at Holden, dropped his gloves, and started firing away.

More from Editorials

Holden was not about to win that fight against Wood, who is actually a pretty capable fighter. But the fact that he didn’t back down–not that he had a choice–was good to see. It was also nice to see both Brendan Smith and Jimmy Vesey drop the gloves to in that sequence.

Let’s not forget the numerous times J.T. Miller pushed and shoved away Devils who were in Raanta’s crease, as well as players giving him flak. Brendan Smith did a lot of crease-clearing as well, and has done so numerous times since being added to the roster. This game was chippy from the start, and those boys had the balls enough to stand up for themselves and their teammates.

Next: Determining Ryan McDonagh's Ideal Defense Partner

This is the kind of gutsy effort that I have been waiting to see from this team all season long, and I’m proud that they had the gumption to stand up for themselves, finally. If the Rangers continue to not back down like they did last night, the series against Montreal that will inevitably happen–unless something of a miracle happens in the meantime–might not go as rough.

Home/Editorials