FIRST PERIOD: Winnipeg came out with jump and after an egregious turnover, Andrew Ladd whipped the puck over to Bryan Little who was stoned by New York Rangers goalie, Henrik Lundqvist. Soon after, Blake Wheeler accelerated around Marc Staal, but was stopped on the wraparound attempt. At 3:16, Keith Yandle lost his stick on the play and Jim Slater(4) capitalized on the rebound as Lundqvist failed to hold the post, assists credited to Chris Thorburn (7) and Jiri Tlusty (16). The Jets were buzzing for the first half of the frame, with six shots on goal in the first four minutes. Carl Hagelin was taken down at 5:20 by Tlusty as he tried to gain the zone. The best chance of the man advantage came as Derick Brassard sliced through the slot and let go a wrister that met the glove of Ondrej Pavelec. Mats Zuccarello(15) put home a loose rebound after a Rick Nash (26) shot at 9:42, Derick Brassard (40) got the secondary assist and the game was equalized. Zuccarello was noticeable all over, forechecking in the dirty areas as well as playmaking, but was a little over zealous at 14:25, as he got his stick tied up in Slater’s skates, good for a tripping minor. New York’s penalty killers did a fantastic job of breaking up any possible threat in the neutral zone and danger was averted. Dan Boyle was turned aside point blank 10 seconds before the horn to end the period and shots were 16-9 in favor of Winnpeg.
New York Rangers
SECOND PERIOD: Lee Stempniak(12) lit the lamp at just 1:24 after a pretty passing sequence involving Mathieu Perreault(19) and Adam Lowry (12). The Rangers were unable to generate much sustained pressure as the two teams traded rushes. Tyler Myers picked Nash’s pocket but Nash raced back to cancel out what looked to be a break for Myers. Rangers got their second power play at 9:31 when Perreault interfered with Dominic Moore. Brassard (17) wound up and found the twine with a slapper, after a gorgeous series of passes by Ryan McDonagh (20) and Yandle (43), and the game was knotted up once again. Nash was whistled for hooking right off the face-off on Jacob Trouba at 13:31, giving the Jets an opportunity to take the lead. Dan Girardi and McDonagh put the penalty kill unit on their backs, with gutsy shot blocking left and right. Hayes had a beautiful take away leading to a Staal slap shot and a couple whacks on the rebound by J.T. Miller, but to no avail. Dustin Byfuglien got away with a major cross check on Miller, who was already down on the ice. Very surprising Byfuglien didn’t get a penalty on the play but he may not evade a call from the NHL in the upcoming days. The period concluded with shots at 7 apiece.
THIRD PERIOD: Chris Kreider nearly had the period’s first goal but he couldn’t catch up to a pass from Miller on an abbreviated 2 on 1. Miller then almost gave Lowry a “Grade A” scoring chance by leaving the puck behind but Girardi got in the way of his shot. Soon after, Tlustly rung a shot off the iron as Winnipeg really was knocking on the door. Yandle and Lowry got tangled up after the whistle blew, but no penalties were dished out. Both teams were very careful defensively, resulting in few scoring opportunities for either teams for the better part of the period. The eventual game winner finally came at 16:14 as Stepan (37) found Miller(12) who finessed a pass to Kreider (21) who then raced in and deked out Pavelec. The goal put the Rangers ahead for the first time in the contest, and they didn’t look back. Byfuglien took an atrocious slashing penalty at 19:21, essentially thwarting any attempt at a game-tying goal. The Rangers swung the puck around on the man advantage to seal the win for Lundqvist. Shots in the third were 11-8 in the Jets’ favor.
THREE STARS OF THE GAME:
1. Derick Brassard: PP goal, assist
2. Adam Lowry: Assist, 2 hits
3. Henrik Lundqvist: 34 saves, W