New York Rangers avoid catastrophe in Orange County as they defeat the Anaheim Ducks
By Conor Power
The New York Rangers powerplay scored twice as the stars bail the Rangers out and help the team come from behind to defeat the Anaheim Ducks by the final score of 5-2. This was not a straightforward win, as the Rangers entered the third period trailing, but a four goal fourth period and five unanswered allowed the Rangers to overcome their problems and make out with the two points in this one.
Adam Henrique would open the scoring as Troy Terry works it into the offensive zone. He gets the puck over to former 2nd overall pick Leo Carlsson, and the Swede shows his talent. He find a way to get the puck over to former New Jersey Devils forward Adam Henrique, and he puts the Rangers in a hole in the first period. Not a great start to the game, but the Rangers had to get over it and find a way back into it.
As you can guess, this did not happen. Troy Terry walked into the slot with the puck before giving it over to Carlsson. Carlsson gave it back to Terry, whose shot was stopped by Igor Shesterkin and sat on the ice behind the large netminder. Henrique was able to get behind the Russian shot stopper and tap it home to double the Sharks lead in this one. A difficult game just became an extreme uphill fight.
New York would cut the lead in half in the second as the vaunted powerplay connects. Adam Fox blasts the puck up the ice for the speedy Chris Kreider to go and collect. The big man gets to the disk and rushed towards the end line beside Lucas Dostal. He fires it in front for Vincent Trocheck, who slaps the puck home and makes it a one goal game. The Rangers had not been playing badly, but were not scoring enough.
Ryan Strome thought that he had extended the Anaheim lead as he was able to solve his former netminder and put the puck in. However, the Rangers coaching staff was able to steal the momentum back by successfully challenigng the goal for an offside. It came off the board, and the Rangers were able to keep themselves in the game after struggling to solve Dostal to this point.
In the third period, K'Andre Miller got the puck over to his defense partner and the Ranger captain, Jacob Trouba. Trouba's shot from the point was deflected by Will Cuylle to make it a brand new ball game. Cuylle's goal was desperately needed as it felt for a long time that the Rangers were going to blow and blow and just be denied by Lucas Dostal. It helped lift a lot of the pressure on the forward core from the large Rangers consortium in attendance.
On the powerplay later in the period, Adam Fox would get the puck at the point on a pass from Artemi Panarin at the red line. Fox dusted it off as Panarin blistered his way around the back of the Ducks cage. Fox sent a missile of a pass through the box to the Breadman, and the Rangers powerplay connected again to get the puck home and give the Blueshirts their first lead of the game
Shortly after, the Rangers would force an odd-man rush up the ice. A save from Shesterkin would lead to Lindgren getting the puck and throwing it up the ice to Chris Kreider who was all alone. Kreider's shot was denied and flipped harmlessly in the air back to the Rangers number 20. Kreider proceeded to smack it like a baseball with his stick and get it to float over Dostal but under the bar to make it a 4-2 Ranger lead.
New York would make it a 5-2 game when Jimmy Vesey was able to hit the empty net. It stops the slide on this road trip, and improves the Rangers record against the Anaheim Ducks in the last 6 years to 9-1-2. It was a strong performance, and the Rangers pulled it out in the end. There are still reasons to be concerned with this roster, but enjoy the two points tonight, and move on to San Jose.