Another comeback win salvages the Rangers’ road trip

This game is the New York Rangers’ season in a nutshell and another example why this team is such a joy to watch.  Challenged by the coach after two bad losses, the Blueshirts came out determined to get off to a good start only to fall behind 2-0 after just five minutes.

But these never say die Blueshirts didn’t give up and they scored four goals in just over five minutes later in the same first period. They let the Stars close within a goal twice, but answered back each time and skated off the ice with a 7-4 win.  Artemi Panarin had a five point night, Dryden Hunt had three assists and Igor Shesterkin recovered from a shaky start to make some key saves to preserve the win.

Coach Gerard Gallant was very, very happy with the effort. “They competed,they played hard, they played the way we wanted them to play…I was real happy with the response…I liked the way everybody played.”

Gallant said that the way the team played, he would have been happy even if they lost. “If we would have lost 4-3 and played the way we played tonight, I would have been satisfied.  Everybody was involved, it wasn’t five guys or seven guys, it was everybody and that’s what was key to me.”

Dryden Hunt said it was kind of a must-win game.  “It was tough to lose those two games, not just losing but the way we lost, we had no response…It was a huge answer for us. It’s kind of been our problem as of late and to flick that switch like that was huge”

The start of the game was awful as Igor Shesterkin let in one his worst goals of the season, just 49 seconds into the game. Esa Lindell put a backhand shot from the boards over Shesterkin’s shoulder.

It wasn’t over as the Dallas Stars built on their lead just four minutes later.  Five minutes into the game and they were down 2-0, the arena was rocking and the Rangers were reeling.

The Rangers got one back at 9:45 when Julien Gauthier did great work on the boards and fed K’Andre Miller for the shot that deflected of Greg McKegg past Stars goalie Jake Oettinger.

When Roope Hintz took a hooking penalty against Jonny Brodzinski, the power play went to work and it was Artemi Panarin who kept the puck in at the blue line and got the puck to Ryan Strome who fed Mika Zibanejad for a blazing one-timer.  Game tied.

75 seconds later it was Adam Fox’s turn to score, tipping in a point blast by Jacob Trouba.

The play was made by Artemi Panarin who was able tot keep the puck in the zone at the blue line and he then fed Trouba for the shot.

The Rangers were buzzing and Dallas could not get the puck out of their zone.  36 seconds later it was Panarin who put the puck past Oettinger on a  wrist shot after dipsy doodling in the Stars’ zone.

It was a dominant first period for the Rangers as they outshot and outhit a stunned Dallas team.

Of course, this Rangers team cannot stand prosperity and they allowed the Stars to draw within a goal on a power play goal with a two man advantage after penalties to Ryan Lindgren and Jonny Brodzinski.   Shesterkin objected to the goal saying that Jason Robertson had directed the puck into the net with his glove, but the officials looked at it and called it a good goal.

The Stars were the better team for most of the second period and the Rangers were holding on.  That’s when Patrik Nemeth scored what Gallant called a “greasy goal.”  He took a pass from Panarin and drove to the net.  He carried the puck behind the net, then reversed and tried to tuck the puck under Oettinger’s skate.

Initially not ruled a goal, the officials reviewed the play and on replay you could see the puck had crossed the goal line and the Rangers had their two goal lead back.

The Rangers came out in the third period and played an excellent defensive game, but Joe Pavelski was able to get an odd man rush on transition and fired the puck past Shesterkin.  The rush came right after Barclay Goodrow had opted to pass instead of taking the shot from the slot with Greg McKegg poised for a rebound.  The pass was intercepted leading to the odd man rush for Dallas.

Goodrow made it at 14:07, taking a feed from Filip Chytil and blasting the puck past Oettinger, a goal he would definitely want back.

The Rangers hung on and when Dallas pulled the goalie with 3:25 left in the game, there were some scary moments until Ryan Strome got the empty net goal.  Igor Shesterkin tried to shoot the puck down the ice for a goal, but he fanned on the shot and had to make a couple really good saves as the Stars pounced on the puck.

Here is a video recap of the game:

Although he allowed four goals, Shesterkin had a good comeback game after the debacle in St. Louis.

So the Rangers went home splitting the four game road trip, not a bad result considering that they played four teams battling for a playoff spot and played two of the worst defensive games of the season.

Notes on the game

• The Rangers improved their record to 37-17-5 and 79 points.  They are tied for second place in points with the Penguins, but own the tiebreaker.  This was the Rangers’ 18th road win of the season, tied with seven other teams for second most in the NHL between Pittsburgh with 19.
• This was the Rangers’ 19th come-from-behind win of the season,  second most in the NHL behind Colorado with 20.  It’s the most in one season they had 20 in 2016-17.
• Despite the two road losses, the Rangers are on pace to finish with 110 points, a total they’ve reached only twice in Franchise history.
• 12 different Rangers made the scoresheet.  The first goal was scored by Greg McKegg who had not accompanied the team on the road trip due to personal reasons. He met the team in Dallas and made a contribution immediately.
• Gallant went with 11 forwards and seven defenseman for the second time on the trip. The Rangers won both games and Gallant explained the strategy, saying that he wanted to ease on ice time for some of his blueliners  Ryan Reaves was a healthy scratch, something Gallant called a “coach’s decision.”
• Artemi Panarin had a five point night, scoring one goal and adding four assists. It was the second time he has accomplished that as a Ranger and the third time in his career.  He moved into 10th place overall in scoring in the NHL. He is second in the league with 52 assists, 12 behind Jonathan Huberdeau.
• Dryden Hunt had three points for the first time in his career, all assists.
• Chris Kreider was held pointless for the third straight game.  He had one four-game scoreless streak earlier  this season.
• Mika Zibanejad scored the 23rd goal of his season, the 12th on the power play.  That puts him in a tie for fifth most power play goals in the NHL.  Kreider still leads with 19.
• The Rangers have the second best power play in the NHL, successful 26.5% of the time, behind only Toronto with 29.9%.   The penalty kill (82.7%) is eighth best in the NHL.
• With the win, the Rangers are guaranteed of finishing with a plus .500 record against the Central, Pacific and Atlantic Divisions.
• The Rangers scored four goals in the first period, the third time that they have done that in the last ten years.
• The Rangers have scored seven goals in a game once before this season, a 7-3 win over Arizona in January.
• The 15 goals allowed in three games matches the 15 goals they allowed in three games in early November.
• The Rangers have still not lost more than two games in a row in regulation.  They have a 14-6-2 record after a loss.
• Igor Shesterkin has allowed four goals in two straight games for the second time in his career, the first last April against the Penguins.   He is tied with Jeremy Swayman for the lowest goals against average in the NHL (2.06) though Swayman has appeared in only 28 games to 40 for Shesterkin.  The Ranger goalie still leads the league with a .938 save percentage.  His 29 wins are one behind  Sergei Bobrovsky, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Frederik Andersen, all with 30.
• Shesterkin is determined to score a goal and it almost cost him when he fanned on his shot and gave the puck to the Stars.  He had to make two good saves to prevent Dallas from pulling with a goal with about a minute left to play. It was a risky play.
• For what it’s worth, the Dallas third jersey with neon green lettering is really, really ugly.