An excellent 4-0 win over the Bruins from “Team Inconsistency”
If the New York Rangers played like this every game, we would be calculating how many points out of first place they are instead of trying to figure out what it will take to make the playoffs. After an awful loss to Boston on Thursday night, they came out and played one of their most complete games of the season and dismantled the Bruins, 4-0.
Almost everything worked for the Blueshirts. They got an early goal from K’Andre Miller. Their penalty kill was impeccable. Their power play didn’t score, but didn’t give up a shorthanded goal. They stifled the Boston offense, allowing only 18 shots on goal, the fewest this season. They stopped the Bergeron line and frustrated Brad Marchand into taking silly penalties. They solved their nemesis, Jaroslav Halak. Mika Zibanejad played as good a game as he has all season with two assists. Artemi Panarin returned and didn’t miss a beat. And they got a shutout from their third string goalie.
The was as much of a total team effort as in any game this season. There were no bad performances, nobody took the day off. It started with the first shift of the game and continued to the last.
As expected, the post game focus was on that team effort. Ryan Strome said “we came to play…I think up and down the lineup, everyone contributed.” David Quinn talked about how proud he was of the effort saying, “(I’m) Just proud of our guys, we’ve been in this situation before this year, when it looks like our season is slipping away and the way we play we did today from start to finish, never took our foot off the pedal.”
Leave it to that realist, Mika Zibanejad to lay a dose of reality on the proceedings when asked about responding to adversity. “I think we’ve been doing a good job responding (to bad losses) , but we’ve got to find a way to string a couple of these games together. the way we skated, the way we played, really the way we played together. We need to find a way to do that more often. ”
And that is this season in a nutshell. The Rangers came back from an awful opening night loss to shut out the Islanders in he next game. Then they lost to the Devils. They stopped a four game losing streak wth a stirring overtime win in Buffalo, then promptly blew a lead and lost in OT to Pittsburgh. They came back from a loss against the Flyers to dominate the Bruins 6-2 and were then wiped out 4-1 by Boston.
The Rangers now have two home games against the Flyers, a team that has lost three of four going into Saturday’s match against the Capitals. The Flyers are a team the Rangers have to pass in the standings. Can anyone guess which Ranger team will show up at the Garden on Monday night?
Dictionary.com just added another definition for the word “inconsistent.” The new definition is New York Rangers.
Here’s an extended video recap of the game:
Notes on the game
In a total team effort, some players stood out. K’Andre Miller rebounded from a few weak games to play his best game of the season. Kevin Rooney is from a suburb of Boston and played like he had something to prove. Pavel Buchnevich continues to be a penalty killing fiend and continues to pile up points. Jacob Trouba set the tone with a physical confrontation with Patrice Bergeron on the first shift. Fox and Lindgren continue to be the go-to duo on defense.
Fox putting his whole body on the line with this block!! pic.twitter.com/8AhSAzSFVj
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) March 13, 2021
In a rarity, the coach left he lines alone. Reuniting Zibanejad with Kreider and Buchnevich revitalixzed that line and they scored two goals. The Strome-Panarin-Blackwell line was a constant threat and Strome scored off a sublime feed from Panarin. The kid line of Chytil, Kakko and Lafrenière didn’t make the scoreboard, but they had a lot of good looks. And if you asked the Bruins who annoyed them the most, the answer would be Kevin Rooney, Brendan Lemieux and Phil Di Giuseppe.
The Rangers were most impressive in the second period. Leading by two goals and expecting a big push from the Bruins, they held them to only two shots 5v5 and only one scoring chance. In fact, the Bruins had no high danger scoring chances the entire game, even on the power play.
The Rangers held the Bruins to only 18 shots, fewest of any game this season. Down 2-0 going into the third period, the B’s could only get seven shots on goal.
This was the fifth time that they didn’t allow a team more than ten shots on goal in all three periods.
The importance of the penalty kill cannot be overstated. The Rangers took two ill-timed penalties in the first minute of the second and third periods and held off the Bruins. It was the kind of game that a timely Boston goal could have totally shifted he momentum.
In killing five off five penalties, the Rangers are now 57 for their last 61, a 94% success rate. They are now third in the NHL with a 87.1%.
The power play has now scored only three times in their last 24 power plays or 12.5%. The season rate is now 14.6% and they are the fifth worst in the NHL with the man advantage.
Before everyone gets too hysterical about this win, it’s important to remember that the Boston defense has been hampered by injuries and the Bruins have not won two games in a row in a month. It was a good win, but a win against a team that has struggled.
For Keith Kinkaid, this was his first win since October 31, 2019 and his first shutout since November 15, 2018. That year he had a stretch with three shutouts in 14 games for the Devils.
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 13, 2021
Artemi Panarin had an assist in his return after missing nine games. He played 18:45 minutes, second most among forwards. He played over seven minutes on the power play, most of any Ranger and had one shot on goal, missing the net on two shots. His pass to Ryan Strome for the Rangers’ third goal was superb.
All alone in front and right on the money. 🎯 pic.twitter.com/LecwdOSYEJ
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 13, 2021
The Kid Line had the most ice time together, playing 7:10 at even strength. Filip Chytil has shown some new ability on faceoffs as he won eight of 13 for a 61% winning percentage. That was best on the team and he was the only forward above .50%.
Brett Howden was a healthy scratch and the penalty kill did very well without him. It was the first game he has missed in 114 games going back to the February 2019.
The Rangers don’t play the Bruins again until the last weekend of the season. The Rangers have taken five of a possible 12 points so far this season from Boston.
My three Rangers stars of the game
Keith Kinkaid
gets the third star for pitching a shutout, but more important, for making the stops he needed to make when it was still a one goal game. Although none of the Bruins scoring chances were classified as high danger chances, he stood tall in goal and gave the team the “swagger” they needed to win.
In honor of @Blockaid1's first W with the good guys:
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) March 13, 2021
🔥 start c/o 2️⃣ ➡️ 🔑
🎹🎹🎹 makes it 2-0 and 🍎🍎 for 🇸🇪 🎧
🍞 to 🌪 and 🎯🎯
🏝🗽 first 🍩 and W as 🔵⚪️🔴 pic.twitter.com/ytQqEhgQDj
The official three stars
- Mika Zibanejad
- Chris Kreider
- Keith Kinkaid
East Division
Saturday’s games
Rangers 4, Bruins 0
Penguins at Sabres
Islanders at Devils
Capitals at Flyers
Standings
1- Islanders 27 17-6-4 38 points
2- Washington 26 16-6-4 36 points
3- Pittsburgh 26 16-9-1 33 points
4- Boston 25 14-7-4 32 points
5- Philadelphia 24 13-8-3 29 points
6- Rangers 26 11-12-3 25 points
7- New Jersey 23 8-12-3 19 points
8- Buffalo 25 6-15-4 16 points
What’s next
The Rangers return to the friendly confines of Madison Square Garden for a two game series against the Flyers The Flyers are only four points ahead of the Rangers and have won only two of their last six games. The first game is Monday night at 7pm.
light. More. Breaking the color barrier