Rangers revisited: A comeback over the Habs & a goal for the ages

Lots of great New York Rangers memories on November 6, but one goal we will never forget

With no New York Rangers hockey until January, we will try to give all Ranger fans a taste of hockey by reliving the best moment on this date over the last five years.

Picking a game to revisit on November 6 was tough, really tough.   The Blueshirts have played on each November 6 over the last five years and they haven’t lost.  Whether it was a 5-1 blowout of the Detroit Red Wings last season or tough victories over Columbus, Colorado and Winnipeg, there was one game that warranted special attention.

Tuesday, November 6, 2018 will go down in Rangers lore as the night of the Neal Pionk goal.  Call it coast-to-coast or end-to-end, the Rangers defenseman scored a goal we will never forget, beating the legendary Carey Price.

But Pionk’s goal wasn’t the only highlight of this game.  The Blueshirts came back from a 3-1 deficit, trailing by that score with under three minutes left in the second period.  They scored four straight unanswered goals against an Eastern Conference rival and one of the all-time great goalies.

It was the Rangers fourth straight win and it got them to the .500 mark with a 7-7-2 record.  The Rangers were flying high under rookie coach David Quinn, but it wouldn’t last long.  After a November when they won 9 of 14 games it would all fall apart in December when they lost eight of 12 games.

The game

A dangerous trend shown by the Rangers manifested itself in this game when Tomas Tatar scored just 23 seconds into the match.  Allowing early goals became a bugaboo for the team and one reason for the season going south after November.

The Canadiens got possession when they won a draw in the defensive zone and it was auspicious start for Pionk who couldn’t keep the puck in at the blueline.

Carey Price looked unstoppable especially after stoning Jimmy Vesey twice.

Chris Kreider knotted the scored 15 minutes later and the first period ended tied 1-1, though Montreal had a 17-11 shot advantage.

Though Kreider got the goal, this goal was all Kevin Hayes as he used his big body to control the puck and got it to Kreider who had an open net to shoot into.

Tatar scored again 4:40 into the second period and when Max Domi scored a power play goal at 6:27, it looked grim for the Rangers and the Garden crowd was pretty quiet.  The only highlight for Blueshirts fans was a scrum between Micheal Haley and Mike Reilly that  the refs refused to call a fight though they send Haley off with a misconduct penalty.

The comeback started on a Tony DeAngelo goal with 2:15 left in the second period.

The Blueshirts had total control of the puck in the offensive zone and DeAngelo’s wrist shot from the blue line  eluded Price.  It was DeAngelo’s third goal in seven games that season as he started to establish himself as an offensive force for the team.

Pavel Buchnevich got the tying goal with his fourth tally of the season at  the 8:25 mark.

After Hayes carried the puck into the Habs’ zone he dished to Marc Staal and Buchnevich put in the rebound of Staal’s shot.

“The Goal”

With the score tied, Neal Pionk took the game into his hands with “The Goal.”  There was just under three minutes left in the game  when Pionk made his end-to-end rush and scored a goal that made the highlight reel on every sports network and evening newscast. It started with a spin-o-rama and he blew by the entire Montreal defense to beat Carey Price.

The fact that it came against the Canadiens made it even sweeter.

It was even more important as the teams were playing four on four and the Blueshirts were about to go a man down for 45 seconds because of a Jimmy Vesey hooking penalty.

When the Habs did get the man advantage the Rangers iced the win with a Mika Zibanejad shorthanded goal less than a minute after Pionk’s tally.

The goal was the very definition of the term “second effort” as Zibanejad never gave up and when his pass was blocked he got to it and put it home.

Neal Pionk did not win first star honors for his game winning goal. The first star went to Kevin Hayes who assisted on the first three of the five Ranger goals. Henrik Lundqvist stopped 31 of 34 shots for the win.

That goal was the highlight of Pionk’s Ranger career as he found himself Winnipeg bound after the season.   It was the fourth time in his career that Hayes totaled three assists in a game (he did it six times).   It was also the last time the Blueshirts have beaten the Canadiens at the Garden, having lost their last two games.

We hope you enjoy reliving these past games, especially a game with such a special memory. It may not replace live hockey, but it hopefully helps a bit.