It was a blockbuster start to the 2019-20 NHL regular season for the New York Rangers who beat the Winnipeg Jets 6-4 in a wild contest at Madison Square Garden.
With tangible excitement in the air ahead of what is a bold new era for the New York Rangers, those fans who packed MSG were not left disappointed as the Blueshirts delivered on opening night.
But it was an unlikely figure who scored the first goal of 2019-20 as Marc Staal proved that there might be life left in the old dog yet with a superb wraparound effort.
In what turned out to be a pattern, the Jets with big hitters Patrik Laine and Kyle Connor back on the ice after their summer holdouts, hit straight back through Mark Scheifele who was left wide open in the slot.
Artemi Panarin came as advertised on his Rangers debut and he looked electric, contributing an assist and a power play goal, with the Rangers’ new and improved PP units looking explosive.
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Rangers fans were still celebrating when Blake Wheeler tied the scores just 30 seconds later, and it was the case again after Jacob Trouba had scored his first goal as a Ranger with a thunderous slapshot, with Wheeler on this occasion just needing nine seconds to get Winnipeg level.
The Jets were outshooting the Rangers by quite some distance and they took the lead for the first time through a Kyle Connor deflected shot two minutes into the third period.
And, just like that, the Rangers’ biggest bugaboo from last year – not being able to hold onto a lead and finish off a game – looked to be rearing its ugly head once again.
However, these aren’t your father’s New York Rangers anymore and there is something different about this year’s class. They played with a youthful swagger and the confidence of having a slew of potent weapons on the roster.
So, it seemed only natural two minutes later when the Blueshirts’ best players took over with Trouba sending Mika Zibanejad on his way with a sublime breakaway pass, and the center did the rest.
The momentum had firmly shifted over to the Rangers by that point but it wasn’t Panarin, Zibanejad, Chris Kreider, Kaapo Kakko or even Trouba who proved to be the hero, no it was Brett Howden who battled and scrapped to bundle home an ugly winning goal on the rebound.
Brendan Smith sealed the deal with an empty-netter and that put the gloss on a roller coaster of an opening night win for the New York Rangers, who proved that they are going to be a hell of a lot of fun to watch this year.
There were a plethora of nuggets and storylines to focus on, so here are our main takeaways from a truly bonkers contest…