Whew! A huge rebound game as Lafrenière wins it in overtime
No team needed a win on Thursday more than the New York Rangers. It took overtime, but they were able to do it. They withstood a hot goalie and a two comebacks by the Sabres to win the game on the most anticipated goal of the season, Alexis Lafrenière’s first NHL goal.
If there was ever a recipe for disaster, this was it. The Rangers outplayed, outshot and outhustled the Sabres, but despite all of that, the Rangers still let the lead slip away in the third period. This time the Blueshirts didn’t let the tying goal get them down and fought their way to overtime. That’s when Colin Blackwell and Lafrenière took over.
The positives that came out of this game were numerous. Lafrenière got the lack of a point off his back, Igor Shesterkin was rock solid in net, Artemi Panarin was his usual excellent self, that excellence extended to Strome, and an underrated Colin Blackwell contributed once more.
That said, if they hadn’t pulled out the win, we would be revisiting the mantra we have heard for two weeks about protecting leads, getting contributions from the top players and finding a way to win. The way things have been going, most fans would have been satisfied with one point.
David Quinn was positively giddy after the game despite blowing a lead in the third period once again. “I thought we had a really good game, I thought we kept coming, we didn’t get fazed by the moment…you just have to keep playing, you can’t let that deter you from the moment and I thought we did, we shook it off.”
Quinn had called out his top players and the Panarin line responded. The Strome-Panarin-Blackwell line was dominant and accounted for the two goals in regulation. Panarin had a goal and an assist, Strome scored a goal and Blackwell assisted on the winning goal. Mika Zibanejad showed signs of coming out of his funk with some excellent opportunities and teaming him with Lafrenière and Buchnevich seemed to work well.
Very quietly, Igor Shesterkin had an excellent game. He wasn’t at fault on the two Buffalo goals and he made all of the stop he needed to, none more important than a good stop on a Victor Olofsson shot two minutes into the game. He made 23 saves.
But in the end, it all came down to Lafrenière who had a very impressive night. He had four shots on goal and just missed a game winner in regulation when he couldn’t elevate the puck over Linus Ullmark who made a fabulous stop. It is going to be hard to take him off the top line if he keep playing this way. That means Chris Krieder will remain on the third line, deservedly so.
Lafrenière said he wasn’t surprised to get the overtime shift. “I was not surprised. I was ready to go. I played a good game and I was ready. I took my chance and it went in.”
His thoughts about his first goal being an overtime game winner. “It’s pretty crazy, an overtime game winning goal, it’s really special and I’ll never forget this moment for sure.”
It just is so, so right. pic.twitter.com/2mxy7WjCGJ
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 29, 2021
The game
The Rangers came out the way they needed to. They outshot the Sabres in the first period 15-5 and believe it or not, were almost even on draws (10-9 Buffalo). They were even able to kill off a dumb cross checking penalty by Brendan Lemieux just under four minutes into the game, not allowing the potent Sabres power play to get a shot.
The Rangers had the better of the opportunities after the penalty kill and finally cashed in at 9:44 when Ryan Strome scored on a great pass from Artemi Panarin who had been fed on another excellent pass from Pavel Buchnevich.
It was reminiscent of last season when Panarin and Strome were a powerful duo, but it was the Panarin pass to Strome that was spectacular.
The Rangers totaled two shots on goal on a power play five minutes later, but couldn’t score,then had to kill a Ryan Lindgren holding the stick penalty. The penalty kill was superb, allowing only one shot and it looked like the Rangers would escape with a one goal lead.
As usual, that wasn’t the case and the Sabres scored a morale crushing goal with just 22 seconds left in the period. The Rangers K’Andre Miller had possession in the Rangers zone with 40 seconds left when he fired a puck down the right boards. It looked to be a set play as Kreider was streaking into the Sabres zone on the left boards, only he couldn’t stop the puck and Buffalo took off in the opposite direction on an odd man rush. Jack Eichel was able to get Miller turned around and he was able to shovel the puck past Shesterkin n a bang-bang play.
The period ended with the question of how the Rangers would respond to the setback.
The Rangers came out like they did in the first and both teams exchanged chances with Ullmark being tested by tougher shots. Nothing got past him until Panarin buried his goal. Panarin made the play as he carried the puck into the zone and tried a pass to Strome who was streaking to the net. The puck bounced to Sabre Matt Irwin who tried to clear it, but handed it right to Panarin who had an open net as Ullmark was preoccupied with Strome on the doorstep.
The Breadman gave his patented high leg kick in celebration and the Rangers were able to take the one goal lead into the third period.
Score. BREAD KICK. Repeat. @budlight | #BudLightCelly pic.twitter.com/91WhfYywSr
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) January 29, 2021
The story for the Sabres was all Linus Ullmark as the Rangers poured shots at the Sabres goal.
The problem was when Ryan Lindgren took a crosschecking penalty against Kyle Okposo. It could have gone either way as it looked like a legitimate body check, but the call went against the Blueshirts and the Buffalo power play made short work, scoring 20 seconds in as Sam Reieanhart slammed home the puck from his spot in front of the net.
The Rangers got a gift when Jeff Skinner shot a puck into the stands with nine minutes left, but despite keeping the puck in the Buffalo zone the entire two minutes, the Rangers couldn’t score. Alexis Lafrenière came incredibly close to scoring, but Ullmark made the stop and that meant overtime.
Buffalo had the only shot in overtime until the 2:47 mark when Jack Eichel was stripped of the puck by Colin Blackwell who carried it into the offensive zone with Lafrenière on a two-on-one and made the perfect pass to the rookie who buried it.
It was controlled bedlam for the Rangers as the relieved team mobbed their vaunted rookie. While the goal was by Lafrenière the goal was created by Blackwell, who got a point in his third straight game. All credit has to go to Quinn who opted to put Blackwell out on the ice in overtime.
Quinn explained his reasoning. “We’ve got four goals in the two previous games he’s the guy that created two of them. He had a good night tonight. You got to let the eye test determine who plays hockey, not where they were drafted or their resume. We needed a win tonight and he deserves to be out there, that’s why he was out there.”
Notes on the game
- As bad as the Rangers were statistically on Tuesday, they were much better in this game. The Sabres won 30 faceoffs to the Rangers 27, much better than the 39-17 difference on Tuesday. They outshot the Sabres 39-25,
- The Rangers were much better at possession, with a 58.33% Corsi For rating.
- At even strength the Rangers had eight high danger scoring chances to the Sabres’ three.
- Including power plays, the Rangers had 26 scoring chances compared to only 11 for the Sabres.
- All four of the Rangers revamped forward lines were better than 50% in terms of possession with Panarin, Strome and Blackwell leading the way.
- Colin Blackwell had a solid outing on the Strome line. With a goal and two assists in three games, going back to last season with Nashville, he has two goals and eight points in his last nine games.
- Adam Fox continues to play more minutes than any player, with 24:52 minutes, four minutes more than any other defenseman.
- The Rangers have now split their two overtime games, winning one in OT and losing one is a shootout. Last season they were 5-3 in overtime and 1-2 in shootouts.
- The Rangers power play controlled play, but was unable to convert. They have now been stopped on the power play for three straight games going 0-8. Meanwhile, they have allowed three power play goals in their last eight time shorthanded.
- Rasmus Dahlin upended Kevin Rooney with a hip check in the third period and for a while it looked like the Rangers might get their first fighting major of the season, but it was not to happen. Last season they played five games before getting a major penalty.
- The Rangers have now blown leads in four straight games, a cause for concern.
- Brendan Lemieux took a completely unnecessary cross checking penalty in the first period, but Quinn didn’t hold it against him and he played an effective 7:37 on the fourth line. It would have been a different story if the Sabres had scored.
- The win dropped Igor Shesterkin’s GAA down to 2.73 and his save percentage increased to .894. Both marks are just behind those of Alexandar Georgiev.
My Rangers stars of the game
- Alexis Lafrenière has to get the first star for scoring what was arguably the most important goal of this young season. He also had four shots on 20 shifts and 15:27 minutes of ice time. Hopefully this will get him started.
- Artemi Panarin had a classic Panarin game, scoring a goal and setting up another. He had four shots and controlled play whenever he had the puck. He hasn’t been at his best this season, but he’s been pretty darned good and leads the team with eight points in seven games.
- Colin Blackwell had his third straight excellent game, getting an assist on the game winning goal and he now has points in all three of his games. The game winner was all Blackwell as he stripped Jack Eichel of the puck twice on the same shift, the second time turning it into the two-on-one with Lafrenière that was the game winner.
The official three stars
- Artemi Panarin
- Linus Ullmark
- Alexis Lafrenière
East Division
Results
Bruins 4, Penguins 1
Flyers 3, Devils 1
Capitals 6, Islanders 3
The standings
- Washington 8 GP 5-0-3 13 pts.
- Boston 7 GP 5-1-1 11 pts.
- Philadelphia 8 GP 5-2-1 11 pts.
- Pittsburgh 8 GP 4-3-1 9 pts.
- Buffalo 8 GP 3-3-2 8 pts.
- New Jersey 7 GP 3-3-1 7 pts.
- Islanders 7 GP 3-4-0 6 pts.
- Rangers 7 GP 2-4-1 5 pts
What’s next
The Rangers are back home at Madison Square Garden for two games against the Pittsburgh Penguins Saturday and Monday.
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