Back in the playoff picture with a big 4-2 road win over Dallas

The New York Rangers took care of business, beating the Dallas Stars 4-2 to move within three points of the wild card.

After a bad loss to the New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers needed a  fast start and a win.  The Blueshirts did exactly that, jumping out to a 4-0 lead before allowing two late goals that made it a close game for the last ten minutes.

It was a game when everyone stepped up, especially the rookies.  Kaapo Kakko had a two goal game, Adam Fox  got the Rangers an early lead and Igor Shesterkin was back to being a steel trap in net.  Of course, Mika Zibanejad scored, but he does that every game.  It was a fabulous effort and the final score didn’t reflect how well the Blueshirts played.

With the win, the Rangers now have 78 points.  Carolina won and now have 81 points and are ahead of Columbus in the wild card due to games played. The Islanders were able to steal a point by tying their game in Vancouver with a third period goal, but lost in a shootout 5-4.  Former Ranger J.T. Miller did the Blueshirts a big favor by scoring the only goal in the shootout.  The Isles now have 80 points, two more than the Rangers, but the Blueshirts own the tiebreaker.

For some reason, the Rangers are playing better on the road than at home and this was another example.  They now have 19 road wins, one more than they have at home.  It was a characteristics of the great Rangers teams of the mid-2010’s, they were road warriors and this young team is showing that same ability.

Shesterkin had a great rebound game from a less than stellar effort on Saturday.  He wasn’t busy the first two periods, but still made some outstanding stops.  It was in the third period that he excelled. While he allowed two goals, he made an number of brilliant stops to keep the Stars out of the game.

There is little doubt that he will be in net on Wednesday in the second of back-to-back games as they take on Colorado.

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The Rangers may have to make a roster move as Filip Chytil left the game in the first period with a lower body injury.  He played only six shifts and it was unclear how he was hurt.  He took a big hit from Stephen Johns at the 16:24 mark and return for one 35 second shift before leaving the game for good.

As the team is carrying the minimum 12 forwards and six defensemen, if Chytil is unable to play they will need to bring a player up from Hartford.  Quinn called it a “day to day injury.”

This has to be a big confidence boost for Kaapo Kakko.  He had scored only one goal in his last 28 games and it’s the way he scored the two goals that was impressive.  The first was a quick snap shot that he took with no hesitation. The second was a dazzling display of stickhandling as he took the puck around Ben Bishop to score.  They were goal scorers’ goals.

It was a rock solid game for the Rangers and they didn’t let up even with the big lead.  Dallas came up with a big push in the third period,  but the Rangers were able to hold them off.  Now, it’s on to Colorado for another must-win game.

Notes on the game

Zibanejad was honored as the NHL’s First Star of the week.

Artemi Panarin assisted on Adam Fox’s first period goal.  He now has 32 goals and 62 assists for 94 points.

The Rangers split the season series with the Stars with each team winning on the road.

Igor Shesterkin now has 10-2 record on the season.  He has allowed two goals or fewer in seven of his 12 starts.  He stopped 31 of 33 shots.

Ben Bishop came into the game with the reputation of being a Ranger killer. This was the first time they have beaten him since 2016-17.

Jacob Trouba led all Rangers with 24:08 minutes of ice time.  Zibanejad was the top forward with 21:39.

Trouba led the team with five hits and Brendan Lemieux had four hits.

The Rangers were actually even on faceoffs in this game. Zibanejad won 15 of 27 and took almost half of the draws for the Blueshirts.

The Rangers have now won ten of their last 11 games on the road.

Guess who was seen on the ice at the morning skate?  Yes, it was Chris Kreider who is ahead of schedule in his recovery from a fractured foot.<

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My three stars of the game

1. Kaapo Kakko is the well deserving recipient of the number one star.  His two goals in the second period were the difference for the Rangers and he showed maturity and skill in scoring them.  He was guilty of passing instead of shooting on the second goal, but the moves he made to get it past Bishop were sublime. It makes you wonder what his numbers would be if he had some time on the top two lines.
2. Jesper Fast had an excellent two way game.  He had an assist on the game winning goal and made the play to keep possession of the puck.  He also had two crucial blocked shots in the last five minutes of the game when the Stars were really putting on the pressure. His work on the penalty kill was outstanding.
3. The third star could go to Adam Fox, Mika Zibanejad, Jacob Trouba or Brendan Lemieux, but Brett Howden deserves the recognition tonight.  He played one of his best games as a Ranger on defense and offense.  He got the primary assist on the game winning goal and spent some tough minutes on the penalty kill.  It’s encouraging to see the progress that the young Rangers are making and hopefully it means that he and Kakko have turned a corner.

The official three stars

1. Kaapo Kakko
2. Adam Fox
3. Mika Zibanejad

What’s next

There’s no rest for the weary as the Rangers head to Denver to take on the Colorado Avalanche on Wednesday night.  Colorado is only two points out of first place in the Central Division and have a lot to play for.

The three game road trip concludes Saturday night in Phoenix as the Blueshirts take on the Arizona Coyotes.