A third period comeback & a shootout win over the Kings

About the game

The scary part was that the Rangers had another slow start. Until a late power play, the Rangers were outshot 12-1 as they had trouble coping with the Kings transition game.  It took a Brendan Lemieux boarding penalty to give the Rangers some momentum and it led to a power play goal by the NHL’s leading scorer, Chris Kreider.

Lemieux single handedly turned the momentum of the game around, driving Ryan Lindgren into the boards with a dirty check.  Lemieux was give a five minute major and a game misconduct though Lindgren got two minutes for cross checking Lemieux in retaliation.

The Kreider goal came with just two seconds left in the period as Artemi Panarin fed Adam Fox who carried the puck into the zone and made a perfect pass to Kreider, perched in front of Quick.

They started the second period on the power play, but they couldn’t score and the Rangers had the better of the play. Of course, the Kings tied the game on a turnaround in the offensive zone when Ryan Strome made a drop pass that was intercepted.  Blake Lizotte had the break-in and put the puck past Shesterkin.

Jonathan Quick made some spectacular saves to keep the score tied, but there was a turning point late in the second  period when Artemi Panarin rang one off the crossbar.

It looked like he had scored and he thought it had gone in, but it just missed and to make things worse, Barclay Goodrow was called for a double minor for high sticking when he accidentally got his stick up on Adrian Kempe and drew blood.  With only 39 second left in the period, Alex Iafallo scored to put the Kings up 2-1.

It was time for another miracle third period.  This game it was Barclay Goodrow with the deflection with only 5:45 left.  It came at the end of a tremendous shift in the offensive zone and it was Artemi Panarin who took the shot with Goodrow planted in front.

The Rangers had a chance to win when Kempe tripped Mika Zibanejad with 1:14 left in the game, but the Rangers couldn’t score despite some great chances.

The overtime started with the Blueshirts on the power play and the entire five minute OT was played four on four as there were no whistles.

The game went down to a shootout and it was epic, going six rounds.  Both goalies were superb stopping the first four shots.  Anze Kopitar scored and Panarin made the must goal to tie.  On the Kings fifth try it was rookie Quinton Byfield and he put one over Shesterkin’s shoulder.  That left it up to Alexis Lafrenière, in a duel of the top two 2020 draft picks.

The Ranger scored to keep the shootout going and after Shesterkin stopped Arthur Kaliyev, it was Adam Fox’s first time on the shootout and he put a backhand past Quick for the win.

Here’s a video recap of the game.

The Rangers continue to confound the rest of the hockey world with their winning ways.  It was another game in which New York lost the 5v5 battle and were saved by their special teams and their goaltender.  It’s a recipe that continues to work for them, the proof is in their record.

Adam Fox reinforced that after the game, saying, “I think we have confidence in each other and know what team we are and what team we can be and the ultimate goal for us.  We’re going to come in and keep winning games and eventually people will start not questioning every time we beat a team or win a game, but  we just come in and try to take care of business snd not let those outside factors really affect how we’re going to play.”