A blown lead, another comeback as Rangers win 5-4 in OT

About the game

The Rangers looked like the same team that demolished the Penguins when the game started.  They swarmed the Buffalo zone and Frank Vatrano negated an icing and fed Mika Zibanejad for a shot at a wide open net.  He missed.   It didn’t matter.  Four minutes into the game Chris Kreider fed a streaking Vatrano and he blasted a shot past  a surprised Craig Anderson.

Just 18 seconds later, Vatrano stole the puck, broke in on the Buffalo goal and scored again.

The home crowd was delirious and the Rangers poured it on with 17 shot attempts to only four by the Sabres in the first 11 minutes. They couldn’t add to their lead and the Sabres started to alter the momentum and played the Blueshirts even the rest of the period.  It finally paid off with only 1:48 left in the period when Ryan Strome attempted a pass to Chris Kreider that hit a skate and the turnover led to a goal by Rasmus Asplund.   Despite all of the dominance, the Rangers ended the period nursing a one goal lead.

The second period got off to a disastrous start with the Sabres adding two goals in the first seven minutes.  Will Butcher fired a shot from the blue line that eluded a screened Alexandar Georgiev just two minutes into the period.  Almost five minutes later Kyle Okposo made a power move, crashing the net and putting the puck through Georgiev.

That was a score the goalie would have liked to have back.

The Rangers were reeling, going almost 13 minutes without a shot on goal from midway through the first period. They had only three shots on goal in first nine minutes of the period and things looked bleak when Alexis Lafrenière had a breakaway that was stopped by Anderson.

Lafrenière came back to score the tying goal just two minutes later, after great work on the boards by Jonny Brodzinski and an excellent pass from Filip Chytil.

The Rangers then got their only power play of the game when the Sabres were called for too many men, what seemed to be a blown call or at least a very iffy one.  The Blueshirts’ power play was awesome, with six grade A shots on goal, but they couldn’t get one past Anderson and the second period ended tied 2-2.

The Rangers owned the third period and the pressure finally paid off when Artemi Panarin scored 3:52 into the period.

Andrew Copp did an excellent job winning the puck after the faceoff and he fed Jacob Trouba for a point shot that rebounded right to Panarin who slammed it home.

The Ranger continued to control play when Patrik Nemeth was called for high sticking at 12:08.   Of course, the Sabres had only one shot in the third period until that penalty and it was on their second shot of the period that Jeff Skinner scored the tying power play goal.

With just under seven minutes left, everyone in the building knew the teams were headed to overtime and that was exactly what happened.

In the OT, both teams traded possession with the Rangers getting the best chances on a flurry of shots with Anderson stopping Jacob Trouba, Mika Zibanejad  and Artemi Panarin missing the net by inches.  The Sabres turned the puck over and it was Alexis Lafrenière feeding a streaking K’Andre Miller who put a snapshot over Anderson for the game winner.

The Rangers finished with the only four shot attempts in the overtime and season sweep of the Sabres.

Here is a video recap of the game:

Notes on the game

• With the win, the Rangers kept pace with the Penguins who have 90 points to 89 for the Blueshirts.  The Rangers have a better points percentage since they have played one fewer game.  They remain five points ahead of fourth place Washington with a game in hand.
• The Rangers 89 points are fifth most in the NHL. It’s their most points in a season since 2016-17.  They did in 66 games with only six teams in franchise history doing it faster.
• The Rangers swept the three game series with Buffalo and improved their record against the Atlantic Division to 16-2-1, getting 33 of a possible 38 points.  They join the Panthers as the only teams with 16 wins against one division, though they have gotten their 16 wins in 19 games while it has taken Florida 22 games to get to their 16 wins against the Metropolitan Division.
• This was yet another come from behind win for the Rangers, their 22nd of the year. the most in the NHL.
• Their record when going into the third period tied is 15-3-1.  Their record on Saturdays and Sundays is 18-4-0
• The overtime win improved their record to 3-3 in games decided in overtime.  Another six have gone to a shootout with the Rangers winning four of those games.
• The overtime goal by K’Andre Miller was his second game winning goal of the season.
• Alexis Lafrenière extended his point scoring streak to six games with a goal and an assist.  He now has 15 goals and 25 points on the season and his career 26 goals are tied with Tim Stutzle of the Senators for the most goals by any player drafted in 2020.
• Artemi Panarin scored his 17th goal of the season and only his second goal in his last 12 games. He needs to shoot more.
• The new acquisitions continue to pay off.  Frank Vatrano has four goals in six games.  Andrew Copp has one goal and four assists in three games.
• Alexandar Georgiev improved his record to 10-9-2 stopping 13 of 17 shots.  He had no chance on two of the goals, was screened on a third and should have had the Okposo second period score.
• Ryan Strome missed the last two periods with a lower body injury.  After the Gallant seemed to indicate it wasn’t serious.
• The Rangers are not drawing enough penalties. They’ve had only one power play in each of the last three games and the one penalty in this game was a bench minor. With the second best power play in the NHL, not going to the net and forcing other teams to take penalties is keeping the team’s best weapon out of games.
• It was “Adam Fox Spotlight” night on the MSG Network and we were fed more information we knew about Adam Fox all evening. The worst element was a “spotlight” camera on Fox, an absolute waste of time.  We were treated to hm going to the bench and sitting down several times along with several shots of him skating by himself in the defensive zone.     Considering that it reduced the size of the shot showing the actual action by almost half, it was an ill advised attempt at innovation that rivaled the worst efforts from ESPN and TNT.   Our suggestion is use an iso camera on Fox, but then show us how he played after the action, not during it.

My 3 Rangers stars

1. K’Andre Miller gets the top star for scoring the game winning goal and again, playing a great all around game. He played 22:07 with two shots, two blocks and two hits.  He is developing a great knack for jumping into the offense at the right time and he did it in this game.
2. Alexis Lafrenière gets the second star for scoring the key game tying second period goal and setting up K’Andre Miller for the game winner. He just missed on a breakaway and also made some key defensive plays.  His game is just getting better and better.
3. Frank Vatrano gets the third star for his two goals to jump start the Rangers in the first period.  He has added speed to the team and is meshing well with Mika Zibanejad and Chris Kreider.

The official 3 stars

1. K’Andre Miller – Rangers
2. Frank Vatrano – Rangers
3. Rasmus Dahlin – Sabres

What’s next

The Rangers have to be looking ahead to Tuesday night’s game in Pittsburgh, but it doesn’t get any easier after that.  They play back-to-back nights in Detroit on Wednesday then come home to face the Islanders.

It’s pretty amazing that the Rangers are still in the fight for first place in the Metropolitan Division, only four points back of Carolina.  After Wednesday,the Rangers play 10 games at home and only four on the road (with two of them  “virtual” home games versus the Islanders and Devils).   Only six of their last 16 games are against teams in a playoff position.

First place is not out of the question.