To anyone watching this game, the New York Rangers were doomed to relive the past. For the second night in a row, they took a 1-0 lead into the third period. They wasted an early power play and then allowed the tying goal on a shot from the slot. A loss seemed inevitable, but then Mika Zibanejad continued his revival and single-handedly took over and scored the go ahead goal that gave them a well deserved win.
In beating the Capitals for the third time in four games the Rangers have allowed them only six goals and the Caps have had the lead for only three and a half minutes in the four games. The Rangers play over their last five games has been very, very impressive.
Let’s make one thing clear. The Rangers did not dominate the Capitals. In fact, they were dominated, statistically. The Capitals had 55 shot attempts to the Rangers’ 30 at even strength. The Caps had 24 scoring chances to the Rangers’ 14 and they had eight high danger scoring chances compared to the Rangers’ four.
The Rangers won because their entire team dedicated themselves to keeping shots from getting to their goal. Just as they had on Friday night, they blocked shots and forced the Capitals into taking low percentage shots. Of the 55 shot attempts, only 24 were on goal. Compare that to the Rangers who had 21 shots get through out of their 30 attempts.
Kris Knoblauch is now unofficially 2-1 in his three games and the Rangers have allowed only three goals in those games. He admitted that the similarity between the two Washington games was a concern. “I was really worried about the confidence, it could easily have been ‘here we go again’ the guys were positive, especially the leaders.”
He also noted that there is a mindset in the locker room. “They feel that they have an opportunity to make the playoffs and they need to play well throughout the final stretch and I think there is also a belief that they can play well like they did the second half of last year when they were on quite a roll.”
Keith Kinkaid stood tall in net. He’s lost only once in regulation in his four starts. Though the team kept shots away from him he still made some excellent saves to preserve the win. He was positively giddy after the game. “It feels amazing, especially being a Ranger. It’s really something special, you know, and I really don’t want to stop, I want to keep it going.” He repeatedly praised the team defense, “sacrificing their bodies and blocking shots.”
While team defense was the key to the win, it also took a special effort from Zibanejad, the kind of effort they will need from him if they expect to make the playoffs.