Rangers win ugly 3-2 over Kraken

About the game

It would have surprised no one if the Rangers had come out strong as they have in their last two games.  Instead, they were slightly better than the Kraken and finally were able to unleash their offense when Alex Wennberg was called for tripping Alexis Lafreniere.  The one area where the Rangers are truly elite is on the power play and they put it on display with an incredible display of passing that led to Mika Zibanejad’s power play goal.

When asked about his shot, Zibanejad said “I’m just standing there thinking, waiting for the pass…just try to shoot as hard as I can, close my eyes and hope for the best.”

Again the Rangers took an early lead and of course, with 8:14 left in the period, the Kraken took over. They had 16 of the next 17 shot attempts, but were stymied by Igor Shesterkin and the Rangers who blocked four of the shots.  Statistically, the first period was awful as the Rangers 5v5 were outshot (13-5), outchanced (11-5) and outhit (10-7).

It was the same story in the second period as the Kraken transition game didn’t allow the Rangers to get set up in the offensive zone. Four minutes into the period, the Rangers finally got the cycle going and kept the puck in the Seattle zone.  The Krakens couldn’t get a change as the Rangers kept cycling and Mika Zibanejad took a wicked shot that ended up on the goal line where Alexis Lafreniere was able to gently nudge it into the net.

It will end up being one of the easiest goals he will ever score and he looked sheepish accepting the congratulations from his teammates.

So, one great sequence and the Rangers were on the board with the dreaded 2-0 lead. Sure enough, three minutes later, Kraken leading scorer Jared McCann got Seattle on the board.  It was a weird goal as it sort of slipped through Shesterkin as the Kraken had an odd man rush.  No one picked up McCann who was the trailer and he took an off speed shot that took Shesterkin by surprise.

So, the Rangers had the 2-1 lead going into the third period and they were almost able to hold on to it. They were unable to take advantage of an early penalty to Mason Appleton and then had to kill a Ryan Reaves high sticking penalty.  At 12:18, Vince Dunn took a penalty for hooking Artemi Panarin on a breakway and at the very least it looked like the Rangers would either score or kill off two more minutes, but Chris Kreider took an undisciplined holding penalty off the offensive zone draw and the power play was over.  During the 4v4, K’Andre Miller had a breakaway, but Phillip Grubauer stopped him.

The Rangers were barely hanging on when Mika Zibanejad took a soft tripping penalty.   He had his stick planted on the ice when Jared McCann tripped over his stick.  It was an iffy call, but it gave Seattle another power play with 3:05 left in the game.  They pulled Grubauer with a minute left in the power play and with three seconds left in the PP and only 1:08 left in the game Yanni Gourde scored on a wicked one-timer from the left faceoff circle. With a two man disadvantage, Shesterkin had no chance.

After the game Shesterkin said he should have had it. “I don’t like giving up goals late in the game. I should have taken a better position.”

Give the Rangers credit.  After the goal they didn’t play for overtime.  They carried the puck right into the Kraken zone and Kreider had a shot stopped by Grubauer.  This is where it gets weird.  Mika Zibanejad won the faceoff and got the puck back to K’Andre Miller.  Meanwhile, Chris Kreider was trying to get to the net and collided with Riley Sheahan.  Instead of playing Miller, Sheahan started complaining to the referee, allowing Miller to walk in and take the wrist shot that eluded Grubauer and gave the Rangers the win.

As we said, it was weird.

Here is a full video recap of the game.

After the Miller goal, the Kraken pulled their goalie again and got the puck deep, but Zibanejad won the last defensive zone faceoff and the Rangers went home happy, that is everyone except the coach.

Notes on the game

With the win, the Rangers have a record of 29-13-4 and finished the month of January with a 9-5 record.  The nine wins are the most in any month this season, but they also played 14 games, the most of any month. The Hurricanes won and the Penguins lost so the Rangers are in second place.

The team has had a lot of success playing matinees, winning all four games they have played. They are 3-3 in games nationally televised.

By winning they avoided a three game losing streak. The most they have lost in regulation has been two which has happened twice. They lost three in a row in November, but two of those games were in overtime.

This was the second time this season that they have won by scoring a goal in the last minute of a game. They haven’t lost a game in regulation that way.

Mika Zibanejad is red hot.  He had a goal and two assists and now has 17 goals and 47 points. He is tied for 12th in points in the NHL and he has moved into third place in the NHL in power play goals, five behind Kreider and three behind Draisaitl.    He has 12 goals and 26 points in his last 18 games

Alexis Lafreniere broke a nine game pointless drought with his second period goal.  He has played the last few games on the wing with Zibanejad and Kreider and is looking more comfortable.

The Rangers were outhit 24-23 and have now been outhit in three straight games. At the start of the season it took them 18 games to be outhit three times.

The Rangers allowed the Kraken to hit double figure in shots in all three periods.  That’s the seventh time that has happened this season, and the fifth time in the last 12 games. All last season they allowed more than ten goals in all three periods seven times.

Igor Shesterkin stopped 40 of 42 shots and was rock solid in goal. The McCann goal was the only one that was suspect.<

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Shesterkin is 8-0 lifetime in games he has made 40 or more saves.  He is 9-0 in games when he has faced 40 or more shots.   He has moved back into first place in save percentage (.937) among goalies who have played in 20 or more games.  His 2.10 goals against average is second to Frederik Andersen with 2.02.  He is sixth in wins with 21 despite appearing in fewer games than all the goalies ahead of him.

Shesterkin is wearing a goalie mask with an image of Henrik Lundqvist.

After the game he spoke about how it was playing that one season with him. “I really respected Henrik and just waited for a chance to show myself.”

Jacob Trouba led all Rangers in ice time with 24:58.  K’Andre Miller and Ryan Lindgren were right behind him.

Zac Jones got his first point of the season, assisting on the Lafreniere goal in the second period. He is still looking for his first NHL goal.

The Rangers won 56% of the draws and it paid off on the game winning goal. ZIbanejad won that faceoff en route to way winning 12 of 19 draws while Strome won 12 of 18.

This was the 20th time that the opposition has pulled their goalie.  They’ve scored four times so far this season and the Rangers have scored nine empty net goals. The Rangers have lost only one of the four games when scored upon.

The Rangers record in one goal games is  stellar 17-6-4.   The official number of one goal wins is 14, but they’ve scored empty net goals in games that would have ended up as one goal wins.

The Rangers are 15-1-3 going into the third period with the lead.  Since 2010, they have lost 11 times in regulation in 321 games with a lead to start the last period.

The Rangers are 11-4-2 in games after a loss this season. That’s a big improvement over last season when they were 13-12-2.

Adam Fox made it official. He is not going to the All-Star game and will be replaced by Evgeny Kuznetsov of the Washington Capitals.

My 3 Rangers stars

1. Mika Zibanejad gets the number one star and thank goodness since he was the one Rangers forward who actually showed up for this game.  He scored a goal, had two assists, won 12 of 19 faceoffs and led the team in shot attempts.  It’s no mystery that it was because he was in the penalty box that Seattle was able to score a power play goal.
2. Igor Shesterkin had another excellent game, keeping the Rangers in a game that they shoudl have lost.  There were no spectacular saves, but he was very, very good.  The Rangers should let the opposition have 40 shots against every game, since Shesterkin excels under that pressure.
3. K’Andre Miller won the game and that gets him a star.  He showed excellent patience on the shot along with awareness of his situation.  He has stepped up with the loss of Adam Fox and played the second most minutes of any defenseman.

The official 3 stars (or 3 players for the home team when they win)

1. Igor Shesterkin
2. Mika Zibanejad
3. K’Andre Miller

What’s next

The Rangers finish up their first half of the season against the Florida Panthers on Tuesday night.  They have split the first two games this season and this will be the final match between the two teams unless they meet in the playoffs.

Note that the game will not be televised by MSG, but will be on ESPN+ and Hulu.  Gametime will be 7pm.

After that, the Rangers have 14 days off and will not be back in action until they host the Boston Bruins on February 15.  The Bruins won’t be off the full two weeks as they have three make-up games the week before they play the Rangers.

It will give the Rangers a chance to get healthy, but it will also give the other Eastern contenders to catch up to the Blueshirts who have played more games than any other teams in the East. The teams with the most games in hand are Carolina (4), Boston (5) and Toronto (6).  The Blueshirts have played one more game than Florida, Tampa, Pittsburgh and Washington.