This was the New York Rangers hockey we’ve been missing.

In the lone star state, the Rangers shined brightest on Saturday, snapping their four-game skid with a 6-3 victory over the Stars in Dallas.

Following Wednesday’s slump-extending 3-0 loss to the rival Islanders on Long Island, where Ilya Sorokin stonewalled the Blueshirts with 41 saves, there had been many articles(Including one on this site) published across Rangerstown, USA, citing the team scoring struggles.

However, as the underlying statistics portrayed, New York entered Saturday a top 10 team in expected goals percentage but a bottom three team in shooting percentage, so while pucks were on net, they weren’t going in.

But for this matinee, at least, the offense got the bounces they’d been seeking and posted a three-goal third, leaving their opponents starstruck.

Here are some takeaways from a wild win in “Big D” over the Stars:

TURNING OVER THE TURNOVER ISSUE:

For all the talk about their lack of offense recently, the defense hadn’t done themselves many favors with their gruesome giveaways.

The 15 giveaways in Wednesday’s loss was a season-high, and the headache didn’t seem to subside early, as an Artemi Panarin turnover directly led to a Mason Marchment goal 69 seconds into the contest for a quick Dallas lead.

Two minutes later, another errant clearing attempt would have nearly doubled the Stars’ margin if not for Alexis Lafreniere smartly disrupting the scoring chance, breaking up a centering pass to force an offensive reset.

Dallas dominated the first six minutes, but Igor Shesterkin and the Rangers’ defense stood tall, allowing the offense time to arise while still within striking distance on the scoreboard, and it paid off. All in all, the team halved their previous total with eight giveaways for the game.

ENDING THE DROUGHT:

The question wasn’t if the Rangers would score but when? It came at 8:41 of the first period, snapping the 79 minutes 38 seconds dry spell. You would think for a team that had two goals in their last 98 shots before Saturday; the icebreaker would be something of sorcery.

Ironically, it was a touch of “puck luck” pulling the Blueshirts even as Braiden Schneider shot wide, but the disc bounced off the boards to Kappo Kakko, who fed Chris Kreider on the right for the tap-in and his third on the year.

After socking 52 last season Kreider is off to a slow start, so this one felt not only as an aid for the team scoring slump but for #20 individually.

WELCOME BACK, POWER PLAY:

Most of the blame for the lack of scoring over the last four games went to the power play, who went 1/16 over that span. Their demise was primarily attributed to them being complacent with the high-percentage freedom of setting Mika Zibanejad up for his sizzling one-timer, yet failed to see opposing penalty kills had moved a man up to the blue line preventing the setup.

It resulted in limited offensive zone time, a drop in shots on goal, and an abundance of overpassing. But on Saturday, they changed things up, getting others such as Vincent Trocheck, involved. The  Blueshirts center took a cross-ice feed from Mika Zibanejad and blasted one past Jake Oettinger to put the Rangers in front.

But the momentum was short-lived as twenty-nine seconds later, mark Roope Hintz squared things for Dallas. A couple of power plays later, Zibanejad positioned himself in the slot and redirected Panarin’s pinpoint pass through Scott Wedgewood, who had replaced the cramped-up Oettinger in the net.

However, toward the end of the period, Jason Robertson corralled the puck after a face-off inside the circle. He slipped it under Igor Shesterkin’s pads with 1:14 left, sending the teams to intermission even at three.

Nevertheless, the 2/5 day on the power play, combined with a 4/4 job on the penalty kill, signs the Blueshirts have found their game again. Maybe now they can begin to establish themselves in the standings as the premier team they are capable of being.

HARD WORK REWARDED FOR JONES AND GAUTHIER:

The Ranger’s mission statement for the third period was simple, win the final 20 and take those two points with you on the plane to Arizona.

Dallas appeared to have seized the lead with 16:109 left when Robertson beat Shesterkin five-hold again, but it was reversed due to offsides after a successful New York challenge.

It was fitting the heroes for New York were two men characterized as gritty and potential impact players, yet hadn’t done anything on the stat sheet to show for it.

Pertaining to 22-year-old Zac Jones, he’d spent the last two games as a healthy scratch after a poor start to the season, yet feasted on Saturday’s opportunity, with a rip from the point, putting the Rangers in the driver’s seat for the third time in the game.

A mere 19 seconds later, 25-year-old Julien Gauthier, who did everything but score in Wednesday’s shutout loss, had recorded an assist on the Jones go-ahead goal before socking a crafty one of his own, giving his team insurance.

Trocheck bookended his three-point night along with Zibanejad, by taking a touch pass from Mika, initially sent to the middle by the Laffy-taffy, and scored his second on the day with 6:34 left, sealing a  6-3 Rangers victory.

KRAVTSOV GOES DOWN… AGAIN:

Filip Chytil and Vitaly Kravtsov were on the 23-man roster, practicing Friday, as both were recovering from recent injuries,

Following Saturday’s game, both were off of it. Chytil left practice early and stayed back while Kravstov came, played, and was smashed into the boards rendering him injured for the third time in his four games this season. It’ll be interesting to see the Sunday night lineup in Arizona at the new 5,000-seat Mullet Arena against the Coyotes, including if Shesterkin(30 saves on 33 shots, +0.21 goals saved above expected) gets a back-back since it’ll be more than 24 hours between starts.

If not, Jaroslav Halak will look for his first win of the season in what would be his fourth try and was recently on the hook for the loss to the Islanders, to no fault of his own, as the Rangers were shut out.