New York Rangers vs Winnipeg Jets: A good 4-1 win against a good team

The game

The first period was tightly played as the Rangers played a classic road game.  They didn’t give the Jets many chances and didn’t take any big risks in the offensive zone.  The big scare was eight minutes into the first period when Tony DeAngelo rode Andrew Copp into the crease.  Copp fell awkwardly, pinning Shesterkin’s left leg under his.

Shesterkin was prone in the crease for a time, but as he was getting medical attention, he got up and seemed ready to play though he was flexing his left leg.  To add insult to injury (literally), DeAngelo was called for an interference penalty.  The Ranger penalty kill stood strong and didn’t allow a shot to get through.

Unbelievably, six minutes later, the NHL called and made Shesterkin leave the ice to undergo the concussion protocol.

Though Shesterkin insisted it was his ankle that was hurt, he was forced to leave the ice and Henrik Lundqvist had to come into a scoreless game on the road and play the last 6:04 of the first period.  Lundqvist was forced to make only one save and it was a big one.   On another play, Adam Fox broke up a three-on-one break-in with a fabulous stick check.

With under a minute left in the first period, Chris Kreider scored an absolutely beautiful goal.

So the Rangers went into the first intermission with a 1-0 lead despite being outshot 13-11.

To the relief of the Rangers, Shesterkin was back in net when the second period started.  The period was played much like the first until the Rangers got their first power play of the game on a hooking call on Gabriel Bourque. It took the Blueshirts all of 16 seconds for Chris Kreider to get his second goal of the game.

Kreider pounced on the rebound of a point blank Ryan Strome shot and Jets goalie Connor Hellebuyck didn’t stand a chance.  The Rangers held on the rest of the period going into the final stanza with a precarious two goal lead.

When the third period started, the Blueshirts absolutely stunned the Jets, scoring two quick goals in the first 1:28 .  Ryan Strome notched the first goal.

Strome got to a partially blocked shot by Jesper Fast and put a backhand shot into the Jets’ net.  35 second later it was Mika Zibanejad‘s turn.

The goal was made off hard work by Pavel Buchnevich who got to the rebound of his own shot and fed Zibanejad who was in front of Hellebuyck and banged the puck home.

From that point on it was the Igor Shesterkin show as the Jets pushed hard, but couldn’t score. It was just after a penalty to Kaapo Kakko expired that Nikolaj Ehlers redirected a point shot past the Rangers goalie.

If you didn’t see the game, the MSG Network did a very nice compilation of highlights from Shesterkin’s game.

It was an impressive win for the Blueshirts.  There were periods where they were sloppy in their own end, but whenever their defense falter, Shesterkin was there to back them up.