Rangers take rematch over Blue Jackets to finish near perfect February

Posted on February 29, 2024 by Derek

The month started and ended well. Three days removed from their only defeat, the Rangers took the rematch over the Blue Jackets 4-1 to finish a near perfect February.

After a disappointing January that saw them go 5-7-2, the Rangers flipped the script by going 10-1-0 this month. By posting such a good record in February, they lengthened their Metropolitan Division lead to seven points over the Hurricanes. The Canes will visit the Blue Jackets tomorrow on Leap Day.

Panarin Leads the Way

As has been a constant throughout the season, Artemi Panarin led the way by scoring his team-leading 34th and 35th goals. He also added an assist for a three-point game, hiking his point total to 82. That ranks fifth for the league lead in scoring.

Although it’s unlikely that he’ll become a candidate for the Hart Trophy, Panarin has taken his game to another level. It’s hard to imagine where the Rangers would be without him. He’s carried the offense at even strength while continuing to be a weapon on the power play. He even has shown a willingness to take the body.

It’s safe to say that Rangers coach Peter Laviolette has gotten the best out of the Bread Man. He’s played with more determination and been a leader.

Shesterkin Has Perfect February

Entering the month, Igor Shesterkin was searching for his confidence. Out of the break, some extra time off turned out to be a wise move by the Blueshirts. They rode Jonathan Quick to two early victories before Shesterkin returned to the net.

The rejuvenated starting goalie continued to play well. After getting Feb. 25 off, he was back making 30 saves against the Blue Jackets to finish with a perfect record in February. He went 7-0-0 with a 1.72 goals-against-average (GAA), and .953 save percentage for the month.

On Wednesday night, he was dialed in. When the Blue Jackets made it interesting in the third period, Shesterkin held it together by stopping 11 of 12 shots to get the win. That included some timely saves with Columbus pressing for the equalizer. He was at his best when the Rangers needed him to be.

Merzlikins Strong in First Period

In the early going, it was the stellar play of Elvis Merzlikins that was the story. Facing a barrage of dangerous scoring chances created by a more aggressive Rangers’ attack, the Blue Jackets’ starting netminder had a strong first period. He stopped all 17 shots sent his way to keep the game scoreless.

Similar to the third period he played this past Sunday, Merzlikins had it all working. He made a few sparkling glove saves to give his team a chance. He was very good against the Rangers, making 26 saves for the game, including 24 through two periods.

The only shots that beat him came from former teammate Panarin and Adam Fox. Merzlikins also channeled Dominik Hasek by venturing way out of his net to make a diving poke check on a Vincent Trocheck rush. It was a chaotic sequence. But Merzlikins wasn’t victimized on the exciting play.

For some reason, he seems to play his best against the Rangers. He certainly helped his cause in the two-game home and home series.

Blueshirts Score Twice in Second Period

Even though they generated more quality chances in a well played first, the Blueshirts were able to solve Merzlikins by scoring twice in the second period.

On what was a simple faceoff play, following a Trocheck win in the Blue Jackets’ zone, the puck took a favorable hop right to Panarin. He wisely fired a quick shot that fooled Merzlikins. The puck went between his pads to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead with 12:43 remaining.

It remained that way until a wild collision between Trocheck and Johnny Gaudreau led to some chaos. With Gaudreau’s head down, he was nailed by an off balance Trocheck to the ice. The Blue Jackets’ leading scorer stayed down for a while.

Displeased with what transpired, Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier gave Trocheck a vicious cross-check from behind to send him down. With Matt Rempe away from the action, Fox got involved in the scrum.

Initially, the refs ruled that Trocheck had a five-minute major. However, they were able to review the original call on video replay. Once they saw that it was an incidental collision, they overturned their call. Trocheck wasn’t given a penalty. But Olivier was for cross-checking. That gave the Rangers a power play.

While on it, they took advantage. On what was a bad break for Blue Jackets defenseman Erik Gudbranson, he had the puck go over his stick right to Chris Kreider. That allowed Kreider to feed a wide open Fox in the slot for his 10th goal of the season with 5:41 left in the second. His power-play goal proved pivotal.

The Rangers took a two-goal lead to the locker room.

Sillinger Gets One for Blue Jackets

The third period was about survival. Predictably, the Rangers went into prevent mode. They backed up. Fortunately, it didn’t cost them the game.

However, that allowed the Blue Jackets to come with a lot of speed and create opportunities. It was a mistake by Shesterkin that got Columbus back in it.

On a play behind his net, an aggressive Shesterkin played the puck around the boards. However, Damon Severson intercepted it and fired a tough shot on Shesterkin that rebounded out for Cole Sillinger to score on at 3:24. That made it a one-goal game with plenty of time remaining.

Shesterkin would also take a tripping penalty for taking down Kirill Marchenko less than a couple of minutes later. But the Rangers did a good job to bail out their goalie.

Cuylle Answers Voronkov’s Challenge

With the Rangers still ahead by one, Will Cuylle hit Blue Jackets defenseman Ivan Provorov from behind into the boards. He was lucky a penalty wasn’t called. Cuylle was forced to answer Dmitri Voronkov’s challenge for the borderline hit.

It wasn’t a long fight. Voronkov got off a few early punches to get the decision. Both players were given five minutes for fighting with 4:28 left. They headed to the dressing room.

Cuylle hits hard. Most of his checks are clean. In this instance, it wasn’t. He probably deserved two minutes for boarding.

Kreider makes it 30 goals

With Merzlikins lifted for an extra attacker, the Blue Jackets got set up in the Rangers’ zone. However, an overpass led to a turnover. Trocheck intercepted the puck and got it to Jimmy Vesey. He then passed for Panarin, who got it in front for Kreider, who made it 30 goals with the empty netter.

It’s the third straight season that Kreider’s scored 30 goals or more. In 2021-22, he had a career best 52 to tie Adam Graves for the second most goals scored by a New York Ranger in a single season. Jaromir Jagr holds the record with 54 scored in 2005-06. In 2022-23, Kreider scored 36. He has 30 with 22 games remaining this season.

For good measure, Panarin added another empty netter late to get his 35th.

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Blue Jackets end Rangers’ winning streak at 10

Posted on February 25, 2024 by Derek

It had to end some time. After holding off the Flyers on Saturday to tie the franchise record winning streak at 10, the Rangers saw it halted by the Blue Jackets on Sunday night at Columbus.

Nobody wins them all. That’s why you still have to play who’s on the schedule. For the second time this season, the Rangers lost to the Blue Jackets on the road – falling to Columbus 4-2.

It was their first defeat since Jan. 26. Ironically enough, they won the following night at Ottawa to start the 10-game win streak. In another cruel twist, the Rangers had their perfect 9-0 record in the second game of back to backs end.

Defensive mistakes prove costly

The biggest story of the game was the defensive mistakes the Rangers made in the loss. They committed too many, which proved costly.

Although they’re not a playoff contender, the Blue Jackets compete hard and have a lot of speed and skill. That much was obvious throughout the game. They used their quick transition well to score three goals in a momentum shifting second period.

Astonishingly, the Rangers were credited without a single turnover. Even if that were true (which it’s not), they were caught out of position on all three Columbus goals during a disappointing second that decided the contest.

They were outscored 3-1 and outshot 14-8. In particular, the defensive pair of K’Andre Miller and Jacob Trouba got victimized. Both defensemen struggled mightily. On all three Blue Jackets’ goals, they were caught on. It wasn’t pretty.

By the third period, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette made a change to his defense. Ryan Lindgren worked with Trouba while Braden Schneider got to play with Miller. Erik Gustafsson saw some time with Adam Fox.

That wasn’t the only change Laviolette made. Unsatisfied with how the top line played, he mixed things up. At one point, Chris Kreider was down to the third line with Jonny Brodzinski and Kaapo Kakko. Kakko saw some time on the left wing with Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere. Mika Zibanejad played with Artemi Panarin and, at times, Lafreniere.

Rempe Fights Again

As if a broken record, Matt Rempe got into another fight again. Just over two minutes in, Blue Jackets forward Mathieu Olivier challenged him to a scrap.

This time, the bigger Rempe was pummeled by the more accurate Olivier, who gave up six inches in the hockey fight. The 27-year-old used his experience to land the decisive shots, even knocking down Rempe by the conclusion.

Despite going to the locker room to get checked out, Rempe would return before the first period ended. The cult hero again made an impact later on.

Jackets Grab an Early Lead

Only two and a half minutes into the game, Trouba was sent off for holding Justin Danforth. With the penalty set to expire, the Jackets grabbed an early lead.

On a play started by Damon Severson along the right wall, he moved the puck to Kirill Marchenko. He then wheeled it in front for an easy finish from Dmitri Voronkov, who scored his 16th goal of the season at 4:34.

Initially, they ruled it an even strength goal. However, it was later changed to a power-play goal. That kept Trouba from being a minus-four. He was returning from the penalty box when the goal was scored.

Panarin Ties it With New Career High

In a period that was wide open, both teams got their scoring chances. For the most part, it was Jonathan Quick and Elvis Merzlikins who got it done in their respective nets.

Quick made his first start since Feb. 15. He didn’t show any rust. Despite his defense leaving him out to dry, Quick had a good game by finishing with 37 saves on 41 shots. That included stopping 15 of 16 in a busy opening period.

On the flip side, Merzlikins played well for the Blue Jackets. Although he didn’t face as many uncontested chances, Merzlikins played a strong game. He was at his best making 18 of his 38 saves in the third period.

With Columbus still leading in the first, Panarin victimized his former team to set a new career high in goals. On the play, he took a Fox pass down low and then surprised Merzlikins by shooting high to the short side inside the near goalpost for a new personal best 33rd goal of the season.

That allowed the Rangers to be tied after a period. Unfortunately, it wouldn’t last long. 

Marchenko Puts Jackets back Ahead

At the start of the second period, it only took one shift for the Blue Jackets to retake the lead. Marchenko put them back ahead just 18 seconds into the period.

On some good passing from Yegor Chinakhov and Voronkov, they combined to get the puck to a wide open Marchenko, who beat a helpless Quick to give the Jackets a 2-1 lead.

Neither Miller nor Trouba were where they were supposed to be on the goal. Things only got worse for both.

For most of the period, it was the Blue Jackets using their team speed to pin the Rangers in their zone. They were more aggressive on the forecheck and looked dangerous.

There were too many instances when the Rangers ceded the blue line, which allowed the Jackets to enter their zone easily and set things up. Even during the latter stages of their win streak, this was the case in recent wins over the Stars and Flyers. Despite getting outplayed, they won thanks to the superb play of Igor Shesterkin.

Edstrom Ties It Up

Still trailing by one, the Rangers got a spark from their new fourth line. On a sustained forecheck in the Blue Jackets’ end, Rempe got the puck to Adam Edstrom at the left circle.

With Rempe directly in front of Merzlikins, Edstrom had his shot go off the skate of Columbus defenseman Jake Bean and in to tie it up.

On the first replay, it actually looked like Rempe had another goal. However, another replay showed that Edstrom’s shot went off Bean’s skate. It was another example of how Rempe put himself in a good position to make life difficult for an opposing goalie. That hard work is why the goal was scored.

Miller Gets Burned on Roslovic Go-ahead Tally

Just when it looked like they finally had some momentum, the Blue Jackets came right back to retake the lead. It took only 46 seconds for Jack Roslovic to score the go-ahead tally.

On it, Miller got burned. After getting caught pinching in the Blue Jackets’ zone, he began to skate back into the play. However, he stopped skating. That allowed Johnny Gaudreau an easy passing lane to find the trailing Roslovic, who buried an open wrist shot to make it 3-2.

It was inexplicable why Miller stopped skating. It almost looked like he gave up. That’s a harsh assessment. It’s hard to explain what happened on the Roslovic goal, which wound up being the game-winner. Only Trouba was back to defend a two-on-one by himself.

That goal was a crusher. It halted the Rangers’ momentum.

Provorov Tacks on Another late

A couple of minutes after they successfully killed off a Trouba penalty, the Blue Jackets took advantage of another defensive breakdown to double up their lead.

Ivan Provorov tacked on another goal late in the second period. After getting caught deep in the Rangers’ zone, he recovered nicely to become the trailer on another odd man rush.

With both Miller and Trouba scrambling back while all three forwards were trapped, Gaudreau and Roslovic combined to find Provorov wide open in the slot for a wrist shot past Quick that made it 4-2 with 1:25 left.

As it turned out, that was the nail in the coffin. Perhaps playing their first back-to-back in a month was too much to ask. During their franchise record-tying 10-game win streak, the Rangers only played consecutive games once when they beat the Senators on Jan. 27. The schedule in February had been spaced out.

Blueshirts Unable to beat Merzlikins in Third

Despite picking up their play, the Blueshirts were unable to beat Merzlikins in the third period. As usual, they never gave up. But even a mixed bag of lines couldn’t get the one goal they needed to make things interesting.

When he finally was called upon to make the big saves, Merzlikins delivered for the Blue Jackets. For a goalie who reportedly wants to be moved, he played well. There were some key stops in crunch time on Panarin and Zibanejad when Quick was pulled for a six-on-four late in regulation.

It wasn’t their night. Afterward, Laviolette didn’t make any excuses. Neither did Kreider, who, along with Zibanejad, was shut down for a second straight game. If they are to make it a special season, so much will depend on both Zibanejad and Kreider. Neither have been good enough at even strength.

Whatever Rangers team president and general manager Chris Drury decides before the Mar. 8 trade deadline, it’s up to Zibanejad and Kreider to improve their overall play. Even if they add a scoring right wing, who can aid them, they need to be better this spring.

Pretty soon, the weather will be warming up. We’re going to have some better days this week. Take advantage. The rematch against the Blue Jackets isn’t until Wednesday, Feb. 28.

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Rangers hold off Flyers to tie franchise record winning streak at 10 games

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Derek

On Saturday afternoon, the Rangers held off the Flyers literally to tie the franchise record winning streak at 10 games. In what amounted to a hard-nosed game that included a popcorn fight between Matt Rempe and Nicolas Deslauriers, they were able to skate past the Flyers 2-1 in Philadelphia.

After going toe to toe with one of the league’s best enforcers, Rempe had an eventful day. The 21-year-old rookie made the most of his nine shifts. In 5:19 of ice time, he had three shots-on-goal, six attempts, and two hits while even winning a faceoff. A rarity for the Blueshirts, who were dominated by the Flyers on draws, losing 38 of 60.

With the Rangers clinging to a 1-0 lead that Alexis Lafreniere supplied them midway through the second period, they were on their heels in the third period. It was the more aggressive Flyers who carried the play. They kept coming until Scott Laughton set up Tyson Foerster for the tying goal with 17:24 remaining.

Despite being largely outplayed, the Rangers were able to go back ahead less than four minutes later. On a strong forechecking shift from the fourth line that includes Rempe and Adam Edstrom, Braden Schneider took a shot that Barclay Goodrow got a piece of. As it went towards the net, the puck took a bounce off the skate of Rempe to sneak past Flyers goalie Samuel Ersson.

When he got back to the Rangers bench, Rempe was greeted with high fives and grins from happy teammates. In only a short time, he’s become a fan favorite by using his six-foot seven, 241-pound frame to deliver big hits and take on all comers.

Originally, the goal was credited to Goodrow. However, conclusive replays clearly indicated that it was Rempe who scored what proved to be the game-winner. It was a well-deserved reward for a young player who’s added some much needed physicality to the roster. Along with Edstrom, the fourth lime has a totally different look. It’s one that’s provided energy during their shifts.

In a game where there wasn’t much operating room for the Rangers’ best players, it was the grit of the checking line that made the difference. Along with Igor Shesterkin, who stopped 39 of 40 shots to earn the game’s third star, that’s why the Rangers came out victorious.

Shesterkin stayed sharp by turning aside all 18 Flyers’ shots in a busy first period. The Rangers had trouble with Philadelphia’s tenacious style. They won more puck battles and generated quality scoring chances. However, Shesterkin continued to stay locked in. He’s stopped 119 of 122 shots over the last three games. He’s now won six straight decisions. A marked difference from his struggles in January.

The turnaround has allowed him to improve his goals-against-average (GAA) to 2.70 and save percentage to .909. When he’s dialed in, the 28-year-old is one of the league’s best goalies. He’s flipped the switch during the Rangers’ undefeated February.

They improved to a perfect 9-0. The remaining games are a home-and-home series against the Blue Jackets. The first one is tomorrow night in Columbus at 6 EST. The return match is next Wednesday, Feb. 28 at Madison Square Garden.

One area that the Rangers struggled with was the power play. Facing one of the league’s best penalty killing units, they found it tough to get anything done. The Flyers took away the blue line and attacked the Rangers’ top unit at every turn. The puck pressure caused havoc. They forced some turnovers to create  shorthanded opportunities.

None were bigger than a two on none with the game hanging in the balance. Flyers defenseman Travis Sanheim led a rush following an Adam Fox turnover. He opted to go in alone and take the shot. But Shesterkin foiled his backhand deke to keep the Rangers ahead 2-1 in the final period. It was his biggest save of the game.

After a lackluster first that saw them outshot 18-9, the Rangers picked it up in a more inspired second. Although it lacked much excitement, it was more defensive minded. Probably something Rangers coach Peter Laviolette emphasized between periods. He couldn’t have been pleased with giving up 18 shots.

For a while, nothing happened. Ersson made a few saves to keep the game scoreless. The Rangers were unable to take advantage of a pair of power plays. They accomplished little on a Joel Farabee high-sticking minor on Fox. Instead, the Flyers were aggressive and took everything away.

Nearly nine minutes into the period, K’Andre Miller got caught by Garnet Hathaway up high. The Rangers defenseman fell to the ice in pain. The refs called Hathaway for a high-sticking double minor. On the play, he swung his stick at a puck in midair but missed. Instead, he caught Miller. After reviewing it to see if it was a follow-through, they got it right. They upheld the four-minute penalty on Hathaway.

Unfortunately, the Rangers continued to force the action. It didn’t work. A poorly timed back pass put Artemi Panarin in a tough position. With the Flyers looking for a shorthanded chance, Panarin grabbed hold of Cam Atkinson to prevent anything. It was the second game in a row he was forced to take a penalty due to a mistake by a teammate.

That led to a four-on-four. Similar to Thursday night’s win over the Devils, it was a good omen. In another irony, it was Lafreniere who scored during it. This time, on a play in transition started by Miller, Lafreniere took a Vincent Trocheck pass and fooled Ersson by shooting between a defenseman. That seemed to throw him off. The shot went through Ersson, giving Lafreniere his 17th goal of the season. That’s three goals over the last two games.

When the Flyers were on the remainder of the power play, they found it tough. Playing without leading scorer Travis Konecny, it was obvious how much they missed him. They don’t have a lot of offense.

The only player who was a factor was Owen Tippett. He was dangerous throughout. A power forward with 21 goals, Tippett had a game high 10 shots-on-goal. He also missed a few wide. Along with 2023 first round pick, Matvei Michkov, Tippett has a bright future. He continues to show improvement.

Early in the third, the Flyers drew even thanks to some hustle from Laughton. A player who’s been rumored to be on the block, he retrieved a Sanheim wide shot behind the Rangers’ net and made a diving centering feed that Foester deposited to make it 1-1.

But all it took was one determined shift by the Rangers’ fourth line to go back ahead. When Schneider fired a wrist shot, Goodrow redirected it before the puck banked off Rempe, who was parked in front of Ersson. From his reaction, he knew it was his goal.

So did ESPN. Their replays showed that the puck went off Rempe’s skate for his first career goal. It was quite a moment. Even if it took a while for them to change the scoring, it’s a game Rempe won’t soon forget. Fittingly, he was selected as the game’s first star.

From that point, Shesterkin did the rest. He made 17 saves in the third to allow the Rangers to tie the franchise record for most consecutive wins (10) during a season. Before they could celebrate the victory, Flyers captain Sean Couturier had a wide open net with three seconds to go. But his backhand went off the goalpost and wide. It was a close call.

The 2023-24 Rangers join the 1939-40 and 1972-73 Rangers in the history books. Can this year’s team break the record on Sunday night? Stay tuned.

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Rempe battles Deslauriers in heavyweight bout and scores first career goal

Posted on February 24, 2024 by Derek

Matt Rempe continues to make a name for himself. Since entering the league, the newest New York Ranger has not been shy about mixing it up with opponents.

It was during last Sunday’s Stadium Series that the 21-year-old rookie forward made his NHL debut. On his first shift, he accepted the challenge of Islanders veteran Matt Martin after a faceoff at center ice. The two exchanged fisticuffs before nearly 80,000 screaming fans at Met Life Stadium.

After registering seven hits in a 3-1 home win over the Stars on Tuesday, he was ejected from Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Devils for decking Nathan Bastian in the head. He finished the game with 17 penalty minutes.

In his fourth game earlier this afternoon, Rempe took on Flyers tough guy Nicolas Deslauriers three minutes into the first period. The two squared off in a high intensity heavyweight slugfest that electrified the crowd at Wells Fargo Center. Here’s how it looked and sounded.

In four games, Rempe already has three fights and 27 penalty minutes. So far, the former Rangers 2020 sixth round pick has made an impact.

The Rangers and Flyers are currently tied 1-1 with over 15 minutes left in the third period.

UPDATE: Rempe appears to have scored the first goal of his career. A Braden Schneider shot was deflected past Flyers’ goalie Samuel Ersson. Although they credited Barclay Goodrow with the goal that made it 2-1 Rangers, the puck went off Rempe in front before going in.

UPDATE: Rempe also got the postgame interview with ESPN’s Emily Kaplan. The Rangers held on for a 3-1 win over the Flyers to tie the franchise record winning streak with their 10th straight win. Rempe sure sounded excited.

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Lafreniere leads Rangers to an easy win over struggling Devils

Posted on February 23, 2024 by Derek

If this were a prize fight, the referee would’ve stopped it early. In what amounted to a walk in the park, the Rangers skated to an easy 5-1 win over the struggling Devils before 16,650 at The Prudential Center in Newark.

The Rangers rolled to their ninth consecutive win – matching their longest winning streak since 2015-16. On Saturday afternoon, when they visit the Flyers, they’ll look to tie the franchise record (10) for a season. That was last done in 1972-73. The 1939-40 Rangers originally set the franchise mark on their way to winning the Stanley Cup.

Lafreniere leads The Way

Alexis Lafreniere led the way with two goals. It was his second multi-goal of the season. His pair of tallies were the 15th and 16th goals of the season. He’s three away from tying his career high established in 2021-22.

Lafreniere’s quietly had a good year. He has four points (2-2-4) over his last three games. In 57 contests, he has 16 goals and 19 assists for 35 points this season. With 25 games remaining, he needs five points to set a new career high. He posted 39 points (16-23-39) in 2022-23.

“We’ve played well against two really good teams. I think we’re staying focused and try to win every game and play as a team. That’s what we did tonight,” Lafreniere said about their recent stretch.

Blueshirts kill off Rempe major

Just over two minutes into the game, Matt Rempe was given a match penalty for a dirty hit that caught Nathan Bastian right in the head, sending him down. Rempe’s size didn’t help on the hit. Bastian was lower and was a dead duck. He left for repairs.

Following Jonas Siegenthaler exchanging blows with Rempe for additional roughing minors, the Devils had a golden opportunity on a five-minute power play. However, the Blueshirts successfully killed off the Rempe major.

Igor Shesterkin made a few key stops while shorthanded. He denied Jack Hughes twice and made saves on Nico Hischier and Jesper Bratt. The Devils had been in a funk on the man-advantage. They’ve really struggled for a while on special teams. It was an area the Rangers exploited.

Zibanejad gets an unassisted tally

Curtis Lazar was sent off for slashing Shesterkin with under 11 minutes left in the first period. It didn’t take the Rangers long to get the game’s first goal. Mika Zibanejad got an unassisted tally to give them a 1-0 lead.

On an offensive draw, a loose puck took a favorable bounce right to Zibanejad. He then had his slap shot bank in off the skate of Devils defenseman John Marino past Nico Daws for a gift on the power play.

That gave Zibanejad power-play goals in two of the last three games. Since posting a goal and two assists in a win over Montreal on Feb. 15, he has a four-game point streak (3-3-6).

Lafreniere gets a gift to increase the lead

Following some timely saves from Shesterkin to keep the Devils off the scoreboard, Lafreniere got a gift to increase the lead. Leading up to it, Artemi Panarin was forced to hook Tyler Toffoli from behind to put the Devils on a power play. However, Erik Haula evened it up by slashing Adam Fox 57 seconds later.

During a four-on-four, Hischier won a faceoff back to Luke Hughes. But he lost control of the puck right in front of his net. That allowed Lafreniere to pick it up and beat Daws for another unassisted goal to put the Rangers up 2-0 after one period.

Trouba Blows Up Bastian

Jacob Trouba blew up a leaning Bastian with a clean open ice hit that sent him flying to the ice. He immediately put Trouba in a headlock, followed by the gloves coming off. The dust-up didn’t last long. Bastian received an extra two minutes for roughing. It was pretty tame.

On the five-on-four, the Rangers were unable to get anything going. The top unit overstayed their shift and fired blanks. It was a wasted opportunity. At this stage, they shouldn’t be doing that. The second unit is capable of contributing. They should’ve been out for at least the remainder.

Kreider increases the lead

Still leading by two, the Rangers used some smart play in transition to put the Devils down by three. Shesterkin made a good outlet pass up for Panarin. With the Devils caught, Panarin found a cutting Chris Kreider, who was wide open for an easy put away that increased the lead to 3-0 with 10:07 remaining in the second period.

That allowed Kreider to stay hot. He has five goals and an assist in his last four games. The goal was his 29th of the season, putting him within one of reaching the 30-goal mark for the third time in his career. He’s done it in each of the last two seasons.

Lafreniere gets his second of the game

Following a successful penalty kill of an Erik Gustafsson tripping minor, the Rangers made the Devils look bad in the final minute of the period. They looked like they were standing still on Lafreniere’s second of the game.

It started with Panarin moving the puck across for Vincent Trocheck. With the Devils scrambling, he passed to Lafreniere in the middle. He then skated through untouched before burying his 16th past Daws to make it 4-0 with 40 seconds left.

As nice as it is to see Lafreniere scoring goals, that was all about the lousy defensive coverage of the Devils. They didn’t make an attempt to check him. It’s remarkable that a day later, Lindy Ruff still has a job. How? They look like they’ve given up.

Artistry leads to Trocheck goal

In the third period, there was really only one thing left to determine. Would Shesterkin get the shutout? He came very close.

Even with the Rangers sitting on a four-goal lead against the inept Devils, it was only a matter of time before they put the exclamation mark on their ninth straight win. Some artistry led to Trocheck scoring his 20th goal of the season.

With the Devils pressing for offense, Gustafsson banked a pass off the boards to send Panarin and Trocheck in on a two-on-one. Panarin patiently waited before sending a perfect pass across for a Trocheck finish on the doorstep. That made it 5-0 with 5:31 left in regulation.

Over three minutes later, Shesterkin’s shutout was no more. Hughes got his 18th from Toffoli with 2:07 remaining. That was it for the Devils. They dropped their second straight game. They’re five out of the wildcard and seven behind the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

For the Rangers, they continued their torrid play. They’re up to 8-0 in February. They’ll look to tie the franchise record tomorrow afternoon at Philadelphia.

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Devils’ latest home-ice embarrassment brings their organizational ills to light

Posted on February 23, 2024 by hasan4978

If you want to know what it’s like to simultaneously want to rant about your team and just don’t really give a fig anymore, try being a Devils fan this year. With expectations high after a franchise-best total of wins last year and a memorable first-round win over the Rangers followed by an offseason of re-signing key forwards Jesper Bratt and Timo Meier, it seemed as if all the pieces were in place for another run at least into mid-Spring hockey if not further. With the Devils sitting seven points out of the last automatic division playoff spot and five points behind Tampa for the final wild card, time is running out for this team to even start to come close to living up to expectations.

Every time I think the Devils are finished, the pack comes back to them and they fluke their way to a couple of wins – a la the post-All Star break mini-surge. And every time I think we’re at least on the path back to relevance they crash into a wall, like the Kings loss last week after said surge, or the simultaneous body blows of losing to the Caps and Rangers this week after their outdoor series win on Saturday. It almost seems like that game was our Stanley Cup for this year, given how the team’s responded before and after the Flyers game.

Even with how angry this team has made me this season, you can’t fault them for losing to the Rangers last night in a vacuum. They do look like the best team in the league at this point, and last night’s game definitely had a 2015 feel to it where they were on top of the world and we looked like a bunch of bums. They aren’t going to ultimately miss the playoffs because of losing to the Rangers, they’ll miss because of all of the garbage teams and mediocrity they’ve lost to this season, particularly at home. Among others, we’ve single-handedly kept an aged Caps team in the playoff hunt with no fewer than three losses to them this season, including two at home. Just winning two of those games would have us squarely on the bubble while the Caps would have been more or less eliminated by now, nearly ten points back.

As big of an embarrassment as the Devils have been on-ice this season, recapping the last two games and the hideous power play last night aren’t worth my time, especially since they’ve become a bigger one off-ice, which is really the source of my angst at this point. It’s one thing to be underperforming and have an off year, quite another to have zero accountability from top to bottom in this organization and I’ll start at the top, or at least as top-down as hockey operations gets – GM Tom Fitzgerald, which is quite frankly where it needs to start. I know some will say it should start with the owners, but these owners strike me as pretty hands-off when it comes to judging results and probably hands-on in other picayune and annoying ways, but I’m not there and don’t work with them so that part is just conjecture.

What is not conjecture is Fitz’s cowardly behavior this season, first of all not publicly facing the music himself for an underperforming team on the ice, or for the shame of employing two of the five people charged in the 2018 Hockey Canada scandal. After a 2022-23 regular season and off season where Fitz couldn’t find enough podcasts to go on and take all the back patting for the Devils’ turnaround, the silence has been deafening this year. Other than one lousy half-hour press conference announcing his own extension, conveniently timed less than twenty-four hours before the Hockey Canada fallout came to light. Even with the outdoor game, it was franchise legend Martin Brodeur who was the public pointman and not Fitz, almost as if he was using Marty as a human shield to avoid coming out of the bunker.

Not only does Fitz fail to stand up and be accountable himself, but he refuses to hold anyone else accountable for this season. I’m not even sure he buys that anything is wrong, to be honest. Apart from ‘injuries and goaltending’ at least, which yes is A factor but hardly the only factor. Not when you continually underperform against bad teams and get off to hideous early starts game after game. Not when your power play has been allowed to rot at a league-worst pace for the last two months without any real change to the personnel or structure with last night’s embarrassment of not even getting a good chance on a five-minute major early in the contest a perfect prism for how sorry this power play is. Not when people like Luke Hughes make mistake after mistake without so much as sitting a shift (with last night being the nadir of a poor last several weeks for the younger Hughes), while god forbid Alex Holtz doesn’t have a tape-to-tape pass he gets thrown back in the doghouse.

God forbid he should ever hold the coaches accountable for the team underperforming much less any players, this was once an organization where coaches of first-place teams would get canned because the team still wasn’t living up to high standards. Now it’s find every excuse under the sun to avoid throwing anyone under the bus, and blame the media the rare time where they actually dare to level any criticism at the organization. Specifically our so-called head coach Lindy Ruff, who attributed our poor power play recently to an unlikely source.

Oh you mean the NEW JERSEY media, who basically isn’t even allowed to ask questions in a critical way? That media?! If you don’t believe me, ask NJ.com beat guy Ryan Novozinsky, who got clapped back at by the coach twice in two seasons basically for the sin of asking why a certain player’s icetime was low in a given game (last season Jesper Bratt, this season Holtz) and got frozen out of even being able to ask a question last night. If Lindy thinks Novo and the NJ media is so bad, I’d love to see him try to coach in Toronto or Montreal where he and Fitz wouldn’t be able to get away with hunkering down and giving zero figs about answering to anyone. Not to mention our local broadcast team who’s always veered on the blind homer side but even a guy like Bryce Salvador seems to have been leaned on after an earlier-season rant about the team needing to have more passion – now he’s just as much of a company man as Dano and everyone else is. Even last year when I wanted Lindy fired, I always had respect for him as a person but I’ve lost a lot of that this year, he’s become just as defiant and whiny as anyone else without any of the right answers all year long when he hasn’t even been asked the tough questions for most of it.

My beef with the off-ice personnel doesn’t even end with Lindy, Fitz or the rest of our lousy coaching staff though. You would like to think a team that spends up to the cap and where money’s no object with these owners – at the very least that they would also have the best medical personnel money could buy. Instead, our crack medical staff continually okays injured players to come back in the game after they’ve had their bell rung, and they wind up leaving later the same night with Nathan Bastian being the latest example yesterday. He gets taken out by a predatory hit to the head, then is allowed to go back on the ice in the second period only to get taken out for good after another hit up high. It’s one thing when this happens to a fourth liner, but it’s also happened to both our franchise centers this year as well. The one with Nico Hischer against the Sabres early in the season was particularly galling since it led to a much longer stay on IR, before the whole ‘needing to win every game’ mindset should have even been a thought.

So let’s see, there’s no accountability for the GM, for the coaches or for the medical team. Now let’s get to the players, where there’s selective accountability on a good night, and none at all most other nights. My annoyance with this coach’s singling out of Holtz time and again is well documented at this point, I’m tired of urinating into the wind. Holtz in himself is small potatoes anyway, compared to the larger issue of the amount of mistakes and dead efforts from the rest of the roster. Where are the bag skates and benchings?! I’d love to see Jacques Lemaire get a month with this group, they’d get a reality check very quickly. Our collective arrogance as an organization in the wake of last year has manifested itself into a ‘we’ll give effort when we need to’ mindset, which is absolutely the wrong one to have.

Part of me attributes the lack of consequences for Luke specifically screwing up time and again the last several weeks to the fact he’s Jack’s brother, and Jack publicly standing up for Lindy is a big reason he kept his job two years ago. The Hugheses cannot be allowed to run the team though, especially when neither is playing well to begin with. Luke may have crashed into the rookie wall weeks ago, but something also hasn’t been right with Jack since about mid-December. It’d be one thing if you could just attribute that to playing hurt and for the first time our so-called coach threw that out as an excuse last night, but that also doesn’t explain Jack losing his head against the Ducks and Kings getting into it with other players and the refs, or losing his mind at home against the Flyers in late December with two hideous game-losing turnovers.

Not that they’re the only ones, I could name several people by name that I think have coasted this year starting with our ‘glue guy role player’ Dawson Mercer, who went from a 27 goal, 56 point +22 season last year to a meager 26 points and -17 in 56 games so far this year. He’s gone from a guy you had to long-term extend to one you clearly should bridge. Speaking of a guy that we might have been better off seeing more from before extending, where in the world of Carmen Sandiego is Timo Meier? Yes, I know – he’s hurt, playing his off wing, Lindy doesn’t like him – at some point the player needs to produce too. Ten goals and a -25 in 43 games just isn’t good enough for our highest paid forward. Is Ondrej Palat alive this year? 8 goals and 22 points in 46 games just isn’t good enough (neither is the lack of leadership which was supposed to be his calling card), and that’s before I even touch the regression from ‘key’ members of the defense like John Marino and Jonas Siegenthaler pre-injury.

Yes we know the goalies suck, despite Nico Daws’ heroic two weeks stretch where predictably our brilliant head coach overplayed him until he ran out of gas and now he’s been capsized just like he was two years ago, with this same staff. With Akira Schmid struggling in Utica, our options for this weekend are either a fried rookie, a raw rookie in recently signed Isaac Poulter or a possibly returning at less than 100% Vitek Vanecek, who was the worst goalie in the league this year AT 100%. Every single goalie on our roster the last few years struggling and regressing goes back to coaching once again, so does continually putting guys out of their best position like Timo at LW or Jack at wing. There’s plenty of anger to go around for everyone though.

As such I likely won’t be writing for a while, I need a mental health break from the Devils right now (and really in general, but there’s less options for getting a health break from a stressful new job at my old company where the new owner is quite honestly even more dense – and certainly more of a whip-cracker – than the people running the Devils). Last night I snapped and left after the first period, which isn’t usually something I’d entertain but given just how awful the events of the first period were and how pathetic the team has been for most of the year I knew how the script would turn out, and I didn’t want to do or say something I’d regret the rest of the night when I was already on my last nerve, a la Billy Crystal as a ref in Forget Paris during the scene where he snaps, ejecting everyone and their grandmother from the arena.

I was supposed to go to tomorrow’s game but took a punt and sold my ticket a couple hours ago, after I’d already sold Sunday’s game weeks ago expecting to go twice in three days this week before what could be a last-straw game against the Lightning. Might as well take advantage of the market prices as long as possible before ticket prices you would think crater post-deadline (my next home game is now March 5, three days before a trade deadline that should veer more toward being a seller than anyone would have ever predicted before the season). I’m not sure how much things will improve by then either for the team or myself off the ice, but at least with the Devils their course should be known by then one way or the other. If it’s being a seller like I’m starting to expect at this point, the good news is the pressure will be off the games by then and I’ll just go to watch my last several games and see my arena friends as much as possible before a long summer. If this team still has an illusory chance at the playoffs, maybe I’ll be able to sell a couple more games at a decent price and extend my leave.

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Brodzinski earned a well-deserved new contract with Rangers

Posted on February 22, 2024 by Derek

For Rangers center Jonny Brodzinski, it took a while to establish himself as a regular in the NHL. The 30-year-old veteran has been part of the organization for four years.

On Wednesday, he was rewarded by the Rangers with a well-deserved two-year, $1.575 million contract extension that’ll take him through 2025-26. It’s a one-way deal.

A former Kings 2013 fifth round pick who totaled 54 games over parts of three seasons (2016-17 thru 2018-19), most of his success came in the American Hockey League (AHL).

While with the Sharks, he played in three games. Brodzinski fared well for the San Jose Barracuda by tallying 14 goals with 16 assists for 30 points in 44 games during 2019-20.

When he signed with the Rangers, it was mostly as a depth forward who could help provide experience for the Hartford Wolf Pack. Since 2020-21, Brodzinski has totaled 56 goals and 73 assists for 129 points in 113 games for the Pack. He’s certainly been a good addition, helping prospects such as Will Cuylle and Brennan Othmann develop in the AHL.

He’s also filled in admirably when he’s been called up by the Rangers. After getting into 44 combined games over the last three seasons, Brodzinski has been a mainstay on the roster since December. In 37 games, he has four goals and 11 assists for 15 points this season.

He’s had recent success while centering the third line with Cuylle and Kaapo Kakko. A line Rangers coach Peter Laviolette put together before the All-Star break, they’ve become a cohesive unit that can forecheck effectively against opponents.

Since Jan. 27 when he posted a goal and an assist versus the Senators, Brodzinski has three goals and two assists for five points over the last eight games.

During that same stretch, Cuylle has two goals and three assists for five points. Kakko has three goals and three assists for six points, including a five-game point streak entering Thursday night.

By retaining Brodzinski, the Rangers have recognized his contributions to the lineup. His teammates were very happy for him yesterday at practice.

It’s a good thing for a hard-working player who’s persevered. He never gave up.

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Shesterkin lifts the Rangers past the Stars

Posted on February 20, 2024 by Derek

For one night, Igor Shesterkin turned back the clock. The former Vezina winner channeled his 2021-22 form when he carried the Rangers to within two victories of playing for the Stanley Cup.

In an outstanding performance from start to finish, Shesterkin made 41 saves to lift the Rangers to a 3-1 win over the Stars at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night. It improved the Rangers to a perfect 7-0 in February. Backdating to Jan. 27, they’ve won a season high eight games in a row.

By continuing their winning ways, they lead the Metropolitan Division by six points over the Hurricanes. The Rangers have 26 games remaining on the schedule. The Canes have 27 left. There’s one regular season meeting left between the teams on Mar. 12 in Raleigh.

For a while, it’s been a two horse race for first place in the division. If they can continue to get the kind of goaltending Shesterkin supplied tonight, give the edge to the Blueshirts. This was the same quality he provided in the second round to eliminate the Hurricanes two years ago.

Shesterkin Delivers In Clutch

Throughout the game, Shesterkin delivered in the clutch. He came up with several big saves to rev up the home crowd who saluted him with trademark, “Ig-or, Ig-or” chants.

The 28-year-old starting goalie had the glove working against one of the league’s best teams. The Stars entered play, leading the Central Division over the Avalanche and Jets. They were looking to rebound from consecutive 4-3 losses to the Oilers and Bruins in extras. They put forth a good effort by outshooting the Rangers 42-25.

Ultimately, Shesterkin was the difference between winning and losing. In what was his best game of the season, he stopped the offensive-minded Stars in their tracks. None were better than his acrobatic save to deny Tyler Seguin of tying the game with 4:18 remaining in the third period. It was pretty clutch.

After Stars defenseman Miro Heiskanen got a tricky shot on Shesterkin that he kicked out, he was on his back when he stuck out his blocker to prevent Seguin from tying it late in regulation. It was a desperation save. Afterward, Shesterkin admitted that he got a little lucky.

That concentration was supreme. It was one of 17 saves he made during a Stars’ third period onslaught. They tested him often. He wouldn’t budge. His consistency was the biggest key to the Rangers coming out with the victory. It was his fourth straight win. However, unlike giving up five goals on 41 shots to the Islanders in a wild comeback win at the Stadium Series this past Sunday, Feb. 18, this was vintage Shesterkin.

He stopped 31 of 31 shots at even strength to match his jersey number. He also stopped 10 of 11 shots while shorthanded. The only one that beat him was a wide open Heiskanen tally on a Jamie Benn pass with Shesterkin out of the play in the second period.

The Stars’ best shooters couldn’t solve him. Wyatt Johnston certainly created some dangerous chances. But Shesterkin made the key saves to keep him off the scoreboard. Benn and Seguin had their opportunities. They were shut down. Mason Marchment tried to go high glove following a Braden Schneider turnover. Shesterkin didn’t bite.

It was a brilliant game. Hopefully, it’s one that Shesterkin can build upon. He’ll see Jack Hughes and the Devils next on Thursday night at The Prudential Center. You know he’ll be geared up. Especially with the Devils desperate for points.

Fox Gives Rangers the Lead

In what can best be described as a wide open first period that saw both Shesterkin and Scott Wedgewood come up with good saves, it was the Rangers who grabbed the lead thanks to Adam Fox.

On a scramble behind the net, Artemi Panarin retrieved a loose puck and then came out and found an open Fox for his ninth goal of the season with 12:14 remaining in the period.

The warrior-like Ryan Lindgren picked up a secondary assist. After needing 10 stitches to repair a cut stemming from taking an accidental follow-through to the face in Sunday’s win over the Islanders, Lindgren suited up by wearing the full face mask helmet. That’s who he is.

Despite the Stars holding a 10-6 edge in shots, they were unable to beat a sharp Shesterkin. He was in a zone early.

Kakko Stays Hot

During an action-packed second period that saw both sides trade chances at each end to combine for 29 shots (15-14 Stars), only two goals were scored. The first came from the suddenly hot Kaapo Kakko.

Following a Vincent Trocheck tripping minor in the offensive zone that ended a power play, the Stars and Rangers skated four aside. During it, both Erik Gustafsson and K’Andre Miller kept the puck alive in the Stars zone. Taking a Gustafsson feed, Kakko surprised Wedgewood by firing a wrist shot high blocker to the short side to put the Rangers up 2-0 with 11:37 left in the period.

The goal extended Kakko’s point streak to five straight, matching a career high set back in 2021. Dating back to Jan. 26, he has four goals and three assists for seven points over his last nine games. Even with his name still mentioned in trade rumors, Kakko’s picked up his game. His hard work earned him a promotion from Rangers coach Peter Laviolette. He moved him up to the top line and sent Jimmy Vesey down to the third line. A well-deserved reward for Kakko.

The 2-0 lead was short-lived. On the Stars power play, they struck less than a minute later to make it a one-goal game. Benn got to a Joe Pavelski rebound in front and redirected a pass right to Heiskanen for an easy goal with Shesterkin out of the play.

The score would remain the same headed to the third period.

Igor’s Time to Shine

The third period was all about one player. Shesterkin. It was Igor’s time to shine.

The Stars controlled most of the play. They gained the Rangers zone without much resistance. Despite plenty of puck possession and an abundance of scoring chances, they were blanketed by Shesterkin. He wasn’t having it.

There were strong denials on Seguin and Benn early in the period. He stopped Johnston on a dangerous opportunity. Johnston was the best Star in the game. He dominated most shifts with his speed and skill. However, he couldn’t beat Shesterkin.

Then came the two highway robberies on Seguin. After he had a shot in front stopped, Seguin thought he had the tying goal only to watch in disbelief. A diving Shesterkin reached out with his blocker to make the save of the game with 4:20 left.

Eventually, the Stars lifted Wedgewood for an extra attacker with over two minutes remaining. Following a timeout, Chris Kreider and Mika Zibanejad made key defensive plays to get the puck out to Trocheck, who hit the open net with 1:41 to go.

For good measure, Shesterkin made four more saves, including a trio on Jason Robertson. It was his night. He shined bright under the spotlight in the Big Apple tonight.

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Late Comeback gives Rangers an exciting overtime win over Islanders to take Stadium Series

Posted on February 18, 2024 by Derek

When the NHL rolled out the welcoming mat at Met Life Stadium for the 2024 Stadium Series, they got exactly what they wanted in the second game of a big weekend.

After the Devils took care of the Flyers on Saturday night, this afternoon was all about the historic rivalry between the Rangers and Islanders.

For over 50 years, the blood rivals have battled for supremacy in New York City. Prior to the start of the game, hockey legends Mark Messier and Bryan Trottier came out hand in hand to drop the ceremonial first puck at center ice before over 79,000 excited fans who braved ice cold temperatures to witness the marquee event.

Introduced by Jets and Giants players, the Rangers and Islanders came out to the ice at The Meadowlands. A football field was successfully turned into a hockey rink by dedicated workers who deserve plenty of recognition. They’re the biggest reason the event was a rousing success.

Before they made their entrance with NYPD police officers in a fitting tribute, the Rangers were visited by guest speakers Messier and Stanley Cup winning coach Mike Keenan in the locker room. Keenan and Messier gave excellent speeches about what it means to represent the city and be successful.

The best part was when NYPD police captain Conor McDonald and Mom Patti Ann introduced the starting lineup. It was enough to give you chills. The Steven McDonald Award is given annually to the New York Rangers player who goes above and beyond the call of duty.

Former NYPD patrolman Steven McDonald remains an important part of the Rangers organization. After being paralyzed from the neck down on July 12, 1986, he battled for over 30 years as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair who forgave his attacker. He passed away in 2017. His spirit lives on through wife Patti Ann and son Conor. The Rangers have given out the prestigious award near the conclusion of every season since 1987-88.

The Rangers couldn’t have picked anyone better to handle the pregame festivities. If you watched the video above, you’ll appreciate how excited the players were during the intro of the starting lineup. They were energized.

Promising Start Turns Ugly

Once the puck was dropped, the Rangers got off to a promising start, thanks to some hard work from the third line. After taking the puck from Jonny Brodzinski, Kaapo Kakko made a good cross ice pass to an open Erik Gustafsson for an open shot that snuck through Islanders goalie Ilya Sorokin with Will Cuylle screening in front. The goal came less than 90 seconds into the contest.

Only a second later, Rangers rookie forward Matt Rempe, who made his NHL debut, squared off with Islanders enforcer Matt Martin at center ice. Rempe got off some good shots early. He used his size to his advantage over the smaller Martin, who came on late before both went off for fighting majors. It was a spirited bout that pumped up the crowd.

Despite Rempe impressing his new teammates with the fight, it was the Islanders who grabbed the momentum. Brock Nelson got free from Ryan Lindgren in the slot to tie the score less than three minutes later. Scott Mayfield set up the goal with a good feed that Nelson buried past Igor Shesterkin for his 23rd goal of the season.

It didn’t get any better for the Rangers. After Mayfield was escorted off for boarding Barclay Goodrow from behind, Alexis Lafreniere negated the power play by taking down Casey Cizikas to lead to a four-on-four. On the next shift, Bo Horvat took a Noah Dobson feed and got behind K’Andre Miller. He then beat Shesterkin from distance to the blocker to give the Islanders a 2-1 lead.

Almost immediately, the Islanders cashed in on a power play when Dobson and Nelson combined to set up Mat Barzal for a power-play goal that suddenly made it 3-1. The goal came only 16 seconds after Horvat’s.

At that point, Rangers coach Peter Laviolette had seen enough. He took a timeout to try to regroup his team. Although they picked it up a little bit, they didn’t get enough shots on Sorokin. The Islanders controlled most of the play by outshooting the Rangers 18-7. Shesterkin made a few key saves to keep them down two at the end of the period.

Trocheck Sparks Better Second Period

Initially, the second period didn’t start well. An ill-advised Chris Kreider hooking minor behind the Islanders’ net put the Rangers in a three-goal hole quickly. Over a minute into the frame, Pierre Engvall had his shot tipped in by Islanders captain Anders Lee to put them up 4-1.

However, it would also be Lee who took a slashing minor on Mika Zibanejad that gave the Rangers some life. Facing the league’s worst ranked penalty kill, they took advantage. Adam Fox passed across for an Artemi Panarin one-timer that Vincent Trocheck redirected past Sorokin to give the Rangers a much needed power-play goal. That cut the deficit to two with still over 14 minutes left in the period.

The game remained 4-2 for a while. Both sides generated scoring chances. However, the goalies were good. In particular, Shesterkin improved his play. He came up with several big saves to give the Rangers a chance at the comeback. He stopped 16 of 17 shots in the period.

With the Rangers still trailing by two late in the period, a strong shift from Lafreniere led to Trocheck’s second goal of the game. Following a Ryan Lindgren shot, an aggressive Lafreniere kept the play alive. The puck came to Trocheck, who was able to bat it out of midair over the goal line to cut the deficit to 4-3 with 1:36 left.

Lindgren Goes Down on Romanov Goal

At the start of the third period, an unfortunate turn of events led to the Rangers falling back behind the Islanders by two. Defenseman Ryan Lindgren went down on a follow-through in the corner. A Dobson shot came right to Alexander Romanov for an easy goal that put them ahead 5-3 with over 18 minutes remaining.

Lindgren was escorted off the ice to the Rangers locker room. He didn’t return. Afterward, Laviolette didn’t provide any update. It won’t be known if Lindgren will miss any time. The Rangers host the Stars on Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden. They then visit the Devils this Thursday.

Furious rally forces overtime

Following the Romanov tally, it was the Rangers who raised their level. They carried most of the play with their forecheck. For a while, it didn’t look like they’d get rewarded. However, they benefitted from some undisciplined Islanders’ penalties. A furious rally forced overtime.

With Trocheck and Romanov off for matching roughing minors, Barzal hooked down Miller to give the Rangers a power play. On it, Trocheck returned from the penalty box. He fed Panarin up top for a wrist shot that Kreider tipped in for his fourth goal over the last two games. His 28th of the season came with 4:08 remaining in regulation. That made it a one-goal game.

Another Mayfield penalty this time for tripping Lafreniere proved costly for the Islanders. With 2:28 left, the Rangers lifted Shesterkin for an extra attacker. They had a six-on-four advantage. The big risk was that the Islanders could shoot for the empty net without having to worry about icing. Fortunately, they missed on their one attempt.

Finally, the Rangers got set up on the power play. Lafreniere came out with the puck and passed it to Fox, who quickly dished it across for a Zibanejad one-timer that tied the score with 1:29 left in regulation.

Suddenly, the game required overtime. It wouldn’t last long.

Panarin Wins It

On what can best be described as a gift, Dobson lost the puck in front of his own net. That allowed Panarin to steal the puck. With Dobson falling into the Islanders’ net to knock off it off, Panarin took a shot that deflected off both Dobson and Sorokin. The puck went over the goal line only 10 seconds into overtime.

The question was whether it counted. Initially, the refs waived it off. However, Panarin’s shot was the continuation of the play and went off two Islanders. According to the rules, the goal counts in that instance.

Following a video review in Toronto, they correctly ruled that Panarin had a good goal. He was awarded the overtime winner to give the Rangers an unbelievable 6-5 win in overtime.

The victory was their seventh in a row. It also marked the first time Laviolette won an outdoor game. Previously, he was 0-3-1. It was either the Rangers’ perfect record in outdoor games or Laviolette’s winless record on Sunday. Something had to give. It wasn’t pretty. But they got the win for their coach to improve to 5-0 in outdoor games.

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Devils’ roller-coaster season back on the upswing after a big stadium series win over the Flyers

Posted on February 18, 2024 by hasan4978

For one memorable night outdoors at least, the magic from the Devils’ 2022-23 season was back. In what was certainly a must-win game for the Devils’ chances to stay in the hunt for a top three finish in the division (and a critical game in the wild-card hunt), the Devils stayed two steps ahead of the Flyers for most of the night in a 6-3 win. Certainly, our player of the game was a Devil named Nico with European background…which one though? While the captain set the tone with a breakaway goal on the first shift of the game and would go on to add another goal and an assist for a dominant three-point night, Daws was the backbone in goal making 45 saves – including keeping the Devils’ advantage during the second period when the Flyers outshot New Jersey 20-4 in the first eleven minutes and had gotten to within 2-1 after Tyler Toffoli had doubled the Devils’ early lead in the first period.

Daws’ performance was doubly impressive considering it was his fourth game in six nights, thanks in part due to the mysterious lower-body injury suffered by Vitek Vanecek either during or just after the All-Star break. With Akira Schmid’s poor form this season continuing in Utica it was Daws thrust into the spotlight for all four games this week and he sent a message to GM Tom Fitzgerald loud and clear…go trade for something else, I got this.

If anyone last April had suggested that Daws was the true goalie of the future in the organization moments after Schmid dominated the Rangers in the Devils’ first-round playoff series, they would have been committed. Especially with Daws coming off acetabular labrum surgery last offseason that kept him out of anyone’s net until December when he made his return for Utica. Just two months later he completed a four-game stretch with 127 saves of 135 shots (a .941 save percentage) and led the Devils to three wins in their last four games, making a slice of history along the way last night.

It should have been four wins in four games if not for the Devils’ typically mediocre home form coming back to bite them again on Thursday night in a terrible loss to a bad Kings team that had just gotten pumped 7-0 by Buffalo. Daws was one of the few on the team to show up for that game but even he could do nothing about the poor defense that led to the two goals against, or the lack of offense that resulted in one lousy goal. Maybe we should move back to the Meadowlands if we’re gonna continue to be this bad in Newark, hah. The homecoming aspect of playing back at the East Rutherford complex right by the shell of our old arena didn’t even occur to me until yesterday morning.

If I had any thoughts of going to the game last night, they were pretty much dashed by Thursday’s meltdown which ensured the Devils lost at home to all three horrible California teams this year, along with Montreal and Columbus among others. My newly-found – or rather returned – optimism after our mini-unbeaten streak which led me to give them standing applause before the Kings game turned back into angry booing by the end of it. Clearly I made the wrong choice skipping the Seattle game and going Thursday night, as evidently it was the wrong choice to go to the Yankee Stadium outdoor game instead of last night. How was I to know they’d have one ten years later that would be much better on the ice (and off-ice too with the production value of these stadium series games)?

Still, even if I was more inclined to go last night…the ‘8 PM’ (which was more like 8:20 or so) start time and long intermissions due to the performances led to an 11:10 finish. Great if you’re home and can get to bed right after, not so much so if you’re trying to get out of a stadium with 70,000 people and waiting for a NJ Transit train after the game just to get back to Secaucus, then from there getting back to South Orange before driving home the last twenty minutes. Even doing that after a win like last night would have been annoying and likely getting home closer to 1 AM, albeit on a weekend but still it wasn’t something I needed to do after a stressful week at work, heaven forbid last night was just another crappy Devil performance I’d really have been ready to punch things.

Pretty much the only advantage of the Yankee Stadium game ten years ago was it was in the afternoon. At least with this game in New Jersey the team was able to celebrate its New Jersey roots from everything between Jake Clemons of the E Street Band playing the national anthem on saxophone to the Devils’ embracing of the Sopranos theme on their way into the arena (while the Flyers in turn went with the only real choice in Rocky).

At least the Devils earned a slice of redemption for that embarrassing performance at Yankee Stadium ten years ago where they got blitzed in the second period to the tune of five straight goals in a 7-3 loss to the Rangers. While the two Nicoes were certainly the stars, a lot of supporting actors played important roles too. It’s hard to tell what would be more shocking in a vaccum – Nate Bastian having two goals in just over eleven minutes or Brendan Smith having a goal, an assist and a +4 last night but neither one was something you’d put anything more than a five-spot on (at most) in any kind of prop bet or whatever. Luke Hughes also surprisingly led the team in icetime with just over 25 minutes last night, then again we actually had a few power play chances in the game. You wouldn’t know it by our inefficiency on it…ESPN showed a damning stat where we were at like 30% on the PP in early January and first in the league, while since then we’re at 8% and 31st in the league. That’s one thing that’s going to have to improve if the Devils want to continue a playoff push.

And who would have thought we’d get six goals in a game without a peep from Jack (just one assist and five shots in 21:05 last night)? So long as he doesn’t allow himself to get frustrated like he did Thursday night or in other games this year – a la the 5-1 Ducks game where he spent more time complaining to the refs than playing – the goals should come again sooner or later. Ideally sooner cause while last night certainly helped the Devils’ playoff chances, they still sit five points behind the Flyers with two games in hand, and two points behind the Wings for the wild card spot. Not insurmountable by any stretch but the clock’s ticking and the rumors about Fitz making a big deal for Calgary’s Jacob Markstrom only intensified last week, hence my comment in the second paragraph. Sure, a better goalie than Vitek would be nice and a different vet to relieve the burden on Daws but at what cost? I guess that remains to be seen.

Well, at least last night’s game kept one of the two doors to the playoffs open because losing in regulation would have put us nine points back of Philly, which would have been…difficult at best to overcome. Now it’s a matter of finding more consistency – for all our talk about the system change, the last two games were pretty much same old Devils defensively this year, it’s just that Daws stepped up in both games and the offense did so last night. Hopefully last night’s game is finally THE one that the team uses as a springboard. If not now, when? Maybe the secret is to embrace the Jersey in us the way Nico did last night, evidently on and off the ice…

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