New York Rangers come from behind to beat the Nashville Predators 4-3 (in regulation no less)

The New York Rangers finally won a road game in regulation as they scored two goals in the third period for a come from behind victory.  They dealt the Nashville Predators their sixth loss in a row.

Well, the Predators didn’t look like they had lost five games in a row.  They poured a lot of shots on net, but it was their power play that gave them the lead in the second period.  The New York Rangers took over the game in the third period and scored two goals to go ahead.  Then, it was voodoo time…four minutes left and a one goal lead.  The Rangers bent, but they didn’t break and they notched their first regulation road win of the season.

Once again the Rangers jumped out to a quick lead as they scored seven seconds into a power play for the second straight game.

The goal came  2:42 into the game after a bench minor was assessed to Nashville.  Zibanejad won the draw, got the puck to Hayes who passed it back to Zibanejad at the point.  His pass was deflected perfectly by Chris Kreider for his 20th goal of the season.

The lead lasted 8:01 as Brady Skjei was called for a penalty and Nick Bonino deflected a Mattias Ekholm slapshot from the blueline.  Henrik Lundqvist had no chance on this shot as he was totally screened on the play.

The Rangers couldn’t muster much offense the rest of the period as they had to kill two penalties.  Kreider took an ill advised offensive zone holding penalty and Vlad Namestnikov got called for boarding.  The two penalties overlapped for seven seconds so they had a two man disadvantage.  The penalty kill was solid and the Rangers escaped tied 1-1. The shots were lopsided as the Preds had a 17-8 advantage after one period.

The Rangers again jumped to the lead 3:51 into the second period.  A great shift and aggressive forecheck by the Zibanejad line led to the goal.

Kreider forced the turnover, got the puck to Zibanejad who passed to a wide open Jesper Fast in front of the net.

Again, the lead was short lived as Nashville scored two goals to take the lead. On the first goal, Kevin Fiala led a rush into the Rangers zone.  Marc Staal and Neal Pionk got their signals crossed and left Fiala wide open for the snap shot and an unassisted goal.

At 10:25, Mats Zuccarello took a slashing penalty.  It was retaliation for a slewfoot by Viktor Arvidsson, but of course, the original penalty wasn’t seen and there was only one call.  Nashville made the Rangers pay as Nick Bonino scored his second power play goal just ten seconds into the man advantage.  So, with the game half over, the Predators had the lead.

The best opportunity for New York the rest of the period was a breakaway for Ryan Strome.  Strome was tied up on a good defensive play and got a weak shot on goal.

The rebound came out in front of the net, but Cody McLeod couldn’t get much on his shot.

At the end of the period, Mika Zibanjed was the recipient of a cheap shot by Zac Rinaldo.  Rinaldo lowered his shoulder and hit Zibanejad in the head after he had just made a pass. Zibanejad was clearly stunned and had to made his way to the bench very slowly.

The second period ended with the Rangers trailing 3-2.  Although outscored 2-1, the Rangers were only outshot 11-10.

In the third period, the Rangers came out and dominated play.  They tied the score at 4:23 when Marc Staal jumped into the rush.

Again, it was the Zibanejad line on a three on two rush.  Staal made it a four on two and snapped the shot past Rinne.

The Rangers kept the pressure up and at7:35 the finally took the lead.

Jesper Fast did his best Alex Ovechkin imitation, putting a one-timer past Pekka Rinne.  Again the primary assist belonged to Mika Zibanejad, his fourth of the game.

From that point on, it was hold on for dear life.  It looked bad at 12:38 when Cody McLeod was called for a holding penalty, but the penalty kill was outstanding and they held Nashville to only two shots.

The Blueshirts showed a lot of discipline the rest of the third period.  They made no stupid plays and even though they iced the puck several times, they were disciplined and didn’t give the Predators many opportunities. In fact, Nashville only got one shot on goal in the last five minutes of the game, even after pulling Rinne with 2:29 left in the game.

The Rangers finally had a road win in regulation and you could see the relief in the players faces as they celebrated.

Notes on the game

• The Rangers were outshot in the 37-22 including 9-4 in the third period.  They scored four goals against the stingiest defense in the NHL and against the goalie with the best GAA in the league.
• The Predators had a better game in the face-off circle, winning 35 of 67 (52%). Kreider’s and Bonino’s first goal were directly related to faceoff wins.
• The ZIbanejad-Kreider-Fast line had a total of ten points and was responsible for all three even strength Ranger goals.  So much for balanced scoring.
• This was the first four assists game of Mika Zibanejad’s career. It was the first four assist game for a Ranger since January 2011.
• Kevin Hayes notched as assist on Kreider’s powerplay  goal. That gives him a nine game point-scoring streak, the longest since Rick Nash in 2014-15.
• Cody McLeod played 10:48 and had a team leading four hits.  Except for his third period penalty, he had a good game.  The Rangers are 12-5 in games he has played. Weird.
• This game featured two 36-year old goalies who are number one and two in wins by European goaltenders. Lundqvist outplayed Rinne in this one.
• In this game, Henrik Lundqvist passed a milestone as he made his 22,000th save. He was very , very good in this game and mades ome outstanding saves to keep the game close.
• Mats Zuccarello was tackled late in the first period.  No call.  A minute later Brady Skjei gets called for a hold. .
• The Zac Rinaldo hit on Zibanejad may  be reviewed by the NHL.  The neanderthal has been suspended four times by the league, three times for illegal hits to the head. He was actually suspended by the AHL while serving an NHL suspension.
• And so ends the longest streak of non-regulation road games without a win to start a season in team history. The 16 game run will join the same length streak by the 1952-53 Rangers. Good riddance.