New York Rangers: Top Five Moments of 2017

#5: Shootout Win VS Washington 12/27/17

While there may be some recency bias, this game was just incredible. From start to finish, no one could tell if it would be a blowout or the goaltending battle that it became. With all things said and done, the Rangers came away with a crucial win over the rival Washington Capitals.

Backup goaltender Ondrej Pavelec got the start to come out of the Christmas break, and he looked brilliant. He made 30 saves over 65 minutes and two saves in the shootout to get the win and shutout. He made many game-saving, well, saves including a great stop on Alex Ovechkin in overtime.

As for the other skaters, the Rangers played a solid game in all three zones, peppering Capitals netminder Phillipp Grubauer with 37 shots and letting Pavelec see all pucks thrown his way. Even though no goals were scored until the shootout, the Rangers were particularly strong in the offensive zone, ringing a few of the posts. When the shootout rolled around, Mats Zuccarello, Mika Zibanejad, and Pavelec iced the game.