New York Rangers show some fight and other takeaways from Montreal

It was all going so wrong for the New York Rangers and then, in the blink of an eye, they flipped the script and stunned the Montreal Canadiens on Saturday night.

With the harsh but true words from Head Coach David Quinn still ringing in their ears from the Ottawa Senators debacle the night before, the New York Rangers still let themselves be bullied by Montreal early on.

They fell behind early to a Max Domi goal and then three unanswered goals from Artturi Lehkonen, Domi again and Shea Weber had the Blueshirts fanbase fearing the worst.

It brought back flashbacks from that horror show in Tampa last week, and the Rangers were facing two blowout losses on the road on consecutive nights.

However, and almost as if they had just remembered their coach’s fierce words from the night before, the Blueshirts clicked into gear and began their resurgence.

Filip Chytil got the comeback rolling with a wicked one-timer from another sublime dish from Artemi Panarin, before Pavel Buchnevich and Brendan Lemieux made it a contest heading into the third period.

There was a slight fear that the Canadiens had halted that momentum when Lehkonen potted his second goal of the night, but these young Rangers don’t lack in heart or fight and they rallied again after that setback.

Panarin has been an absolute success since his blockbuster arrival in free agency, and he continued his recent hot streak by recording his 12th goal of the year, thanks in large part to a beautiful no-look pass from Chris Kreider.

That set the stage for Lemieux to build on his heroic night (more on him shortly) with another tuck, and Jacob Trouba completed a stunning and unlikely comeback by scoring the go-ahead goal at 12:10 in the third period.

It was a hell of an effort from the New York Rangers who displayed an abundance of character to fight back against what looks be a playoff team, and we had some takeaways from what could be a season defining win…

1. Lemieux the Warrior

Brendan Lemieux deserves a long-term contract with the New York Rangers. Let’s get that out of the way right now.

After signing a one-year, $925,000 bridge deal back in the off-season, Lemieux has quietly gone about cementing his status as a cornerstone piece on this roster.

And he’s really underlined just how important the role he plays is to this young team during the course of the last few games.

Taking on, and more than holding his own, against one of the heavyweights of the NHL in Washington Capitals forward Tom Wilson, Lemieux took toughness to a whole new level against the Ottawa Senators.

Despite sporting a nasty looking black eye and losing a handful of teeth, which teammate Brady Skjei kindly helped to collect, Lemieux just shrugged it off and went about his business.

And that leads us on to Saturday night where Lemieux played a starring role in what will be one of the comebacks of the year in the National Hockey League.

The bottom six grinder got the Rangers to within one of the Canadiens when he won the puck back before getting to the front of the net and redirecting Adam Fox‘s shot beyond Carey Price.

And Lemieux made it a tied game in the third period after netting a goal while shorthanded, giving the puck to Brett Howden before getting it back and one-timing it beyond Price.

Lemieux finished the night with two points, six shots on goal, two hits and one blocked shot in 17:02 minutes of total ice time, while he has been a positive influence on Kaapo Kakko.

There is no doubt that Brendan Lemieux is the heart and soul of this Rangers team right now and they need to lock him down to a longer-term contract sooner rather than later.

3. Buchnevich’s redemption

Pavel Buchnevich, no stranger to being on the wrong end of David Quinn’s wrath, found himself right in the heat of his Head Coach’s rampage on Friday.

Singled out for costing the Rangers a too-many-men on the ice penalty during the shocking loss to the Ottawa Senators, Buchnevich was walking a tightrope and was in danger of another outing to the “Quinn Bin.”

And, in case you haven’t seen it, here’s exactly what Quinn said about Buchnevich before the Montreal game.

“Pavel Buchnevich was apparently not paying attention to what was going on on the ice and jumped on the ice. He’s never killed a penalty before in his life, and with 30 seconds to go in a penalty kill, he saw (Jesper) Fast come off the ice – who he replaces 5-on-5 – and he jumps on the ice. That was part of our problem (Friday) night. We weren’t focused, we weren’t dialed in. That play symbolizes why we had our asses handed to us.”

However, the Russian, who put together his best game of the year against the Washington Capitals last week, shook off a bad night at the office and rebounded in a big way in Montreal.

There was his goal which was as filthy as you like, slaloming his way through the defense, deking Canadiens goalie Carey Price before chucking the puck in the net off two Montreal blueliners.

Oh, and it came on what was his 200th career game in the National Hockey League. So, not a bad way to mark it.

It was a sublime effort but it was just the tip of the iceberg for Buchnevich, who finished the game with a +2 rating, three shots on goal and one hit in 15:23 minutes of ice time.

Not only did the Rangers bounce back on Saturday but so did Pavel Buchnevich and it was needed, given his own history of inconsistency.

4. Quinn’s shrewd decision

David Quinn has come in for some criticism this year and some of that has been of his own doing, while some of it has been unwarranted.

After all, there are some out there who feel the New York Rangers should have stamped their playoff ticket already just because Artemi Panarin is on the roster, which isn’t fair at all.

Because, and we all knew this going in, this was always going to be a developmental year for this young roster with improvement and progress the buzz words of the day.

However, one blemish on Quinn’s copybook has been some of his in-game decisions, which have puzzled some.

But, to give credit where credit is due, Quinn made an in-game decision that paid off handsomely and played a key role in the Rangers’ stunning comeback win.

After Alexandar Georgiev allowed four goals on 20 shots, Henrik Lundqvist was warming up and Quinn was seriously contemplating a goaltending change.

However, knowing the reaction of the raucous home crowd at the Bell Centre if he did bring Lundqvist into the game, Quinn decided to stand pat.

And it worked as the Canadiens would go on to score just one more goal on 23 shots, with Georgiev overcoming a slow start to give his team a chance to mount a comeback.

It was a risky decision by David Quinn but that’s what he is paid to do and you have to take risks in the world of sports.

Sometimes it pays off and sometimes it doesn’t but, in this case, it did and as a result David Quinn earned some credit for making a gut decision with the pressure really on and with a lot on the line for him and his team.