New York Rangers Give Los Angeles Kings First Regulation Road Loss in 4-1 Win
Jonathan Quick handed the Los Angeles Kings their first regulation defeat on the road this season as the New York Rangers beat the King 4-1, giving Jonathan Quick an 8-0-1 record as a Ranger. That was win 383 in his career, leaving him just eight wins behind the all time wins leader among American born goalies. For those that care, it's Ryan Miller who leads that particular stat.
The scoring in this game would not start until the middle of the second period. It would be the Rangers powerplay to crack the LA Kings defense. Mika Zibanejad played a pass down to the line to Kreider, who found Artemi Panarin sitting on the other side of the ice wide open. Without so much as a touch, Panarin plays it first time back to Zibanejad. Zibanejad's one-timer beat Copley and the Rangers took the lead for the first time in five games.
New York would double its lead before the end of the period. With two and a half minutes left, Jimmy Vesey is able to put some pressure on the Kings in their own zone. A clearing attempt from Los Angeles is gloved down at the line by Nick Bonino. Bonino found a pass through to Vesey who slid the puck through the fivehole of Copley to make it a 2-0 lead, and give the Rangers a cushion to defend their lead.
Los Angeles thought that they had tied the game up when Pierre-Luc Dubois was called for interference before the puck crossed line line. Ryan Lindgren was deemed to have embellished the call. I don't think the embellishment call was even wrong on Lindgren, but it kept the Kings off the board and the Rangers survived a potential scare in the third period against a very talented team.
Philip Danault would eventually cut the Rangers lead as the Kings tallied on the stream of Blueshirts to the box. With K'Andre Miller, Ryan Lindgren, Mika Zibanejad, and the population of Staten Island in the box, the Rangers couldn't prevent a cross-crease pass which the former Chicago Blackhawks' first round pick put home to get the Kings on the board.
On the powerplay, the New York Rangers would restablish their two goal lead. With Mika Zibanejad in the box serving a 10 minute misconduct, Jonny Brodzinski took his place on the man advantage. Artemi Panarin holds the puck before giving it to Vincent Trocheck on the goal line. He played it across to Brodzinski for the first powerplay goal at the NHL level of his career, and the Rangers had their insurance marker back.
New York would make it 4-1 with less than five minutes left. Will Cuylle was left alone at the side of the net when Trocheck sent the entire LA Kings team into the rafters with a pass across the crease. Cuylle couldn't miss and the Rangers took a commanding lead in a game they needed to win to stop their rot. It was just a case of seeing the rest of the game out and enjoying the two points at Madison Square Garden.