While fans are weary to fall victim to hope after the team’s countless battles with inconsistency this season, it sure is a sign of relief to put the losing streak to an end. It wasn’t the prettiest win, nor was it anywhere close to a perfect game but a win is a win is a win and the Rangers found a way to do so. A huge night from Ryan Lindgren, the fourth line and Jaroslav Halak who finally, after seven starts with the team, found his first win as a New York Ranger, stopping 35 shots in the process. There are still some concerns with this group, specifically regarding their power play, top players and the ongoing Trouba situation. However, at the end of the day, the team got the win, Halak finally got his, Kravtsov and a lot of the depth guys looked good. All of which are good signs that with a couple more wins, things can go in the right direction.
It wasn’t a great start to the game, really for either team as there was a bit of a sluggish type of pace to the game. The Senators saw a greater share of the offense as they out-shot the Rangers 13-7, the widest margin throughout the game. Thankfully, the Rangers found a way to strike first as Jimmy Vesey tucked in a shot halfway through the period to make it a 1-0 game. Say what you will about Vesey as first line duties are a big ask for the veteran depth piece, but despite the lows of the season's first quarter, he’s been a solid addition to this team. While it will put your brain in a pretzel trying to fathom the reasoning of using him in a first line role while a young star like Alexis Lafreniere sits on the third line, if the chemistry is there, let it ride only if the wins become consistent.
Aside from the Vesey goal, there wasn’t much to really talk about in the first. Mathieu Joseph gave an unnecessary whack to a puck that Jaro Halak had covered which led to K’Andre Miller going after him, resulting in matching penalties. Nevertheless, neither team generated much of anything on the four on four and by the time the two returned to the ice, the period was just about over. The second period saw an increase of offense from the Rangers as well as increased man advantages for the Senators as penalties to Vitaly Kravtsov and Julein Gauthier left the Rangers shorthanded on two separate occasions. Thankfully, the Rangers penalty killers have been great as of late, despite their power play being quite ineffective. After last night’s showing, the Rangers are now fourth in the league while shorthanded.
A couple things to note before we get to the Rangers second goal. Despite the holding penalty early in the second, Vitaly Kravtsov played a very solid game in his return to the lineup. He only saw about ten minutes worth of ice time but he had a couple shots on goal, was quite aggressive on the puck and made a handful of effective plays. Speaking of effectiveness, the Rangers fourth line looked tremendous with Barclay Goodrow centering Blais and Gauthier. Through the first period, they were one of the only lines that really spent a good amount of time in the offensive zone and those efforts paid off in the second period when Sammy Blais, made a perfect pass to Ryan Lindgren at the point whose shot tipped-in off Barclay Goodrow’s stick to make it a 2-0 game. A great shift for a line who had a handful throughout the night that will hopefully remain in tact in games moving forward. While Ryan Carpenter’s contributions, specifically in the face-off circle are helpful, Blais-Goodrow-Gauthier seems to be the team’s best fourth line option with this current roster.
In pure Rangers fashion, especially as of late, the go ahead goal would quickly result in a goal from the opposition, with Shane Pinto sending a laser of a shot past Halak to cut the Rangers lead in half. Drake Batherson made a good play on the boards where Zac Jones pinched, and got beat leading to an odd man rush where Trouba opted to anticipate a pass, leaving Halak with the shot. While the play did start with what Trouba intended to be a clear in, it kind of resulted in a turnover as Ottawa immediately picked up the puck and rushed out of the zone. He could have been more aggressive in defending the odd man rush but given the Rangers goal-tending luxury, their defensemen are pretty much trained to worry about the open man as the goalie can usually be trusted if the player with the puck opts to shoot. You can also make the argument that Jones should have been more cautious with his pinch but regardless, it was a great play by Pinto and thankfully, it would stand as the only Senators goal.
Much of the same continued into the third period however, the Rangers would have two power play opportunities to really put the Senators away. The power play struggles continued as they weren’t able to convert on either attempt, although shortly after, Chris Kreider was able to give them a go-ahead goal off yet another Ryan Lindgren shot. An incredible night for the Rangers defender who assisted on all three Rangers goals, all while battling through blocking a shot midway through the game that left him struggling to put any weight on his leg. Say whatever you want about this team regarding contracts, advanced stats, line combinations, Ryan Lindgren is one of the most valuable pieces to this team and should be next in line to wear a letter on his jersey.
Halak made some key saves in the third as he remained busy and consistent throughout the night. As I wrote about it in my pre-game post, it was important to give Igor a night off, especially after how done he’s been on himself and his visible frustrations during practice. With the back to back coming up, the goalie duo will likely split starts which will hopefully give Igor a clean slate to get the mental side of his game back. The Rangers are right back at it with the Senators back in New York Friday night. The Blueshirts will look to build off this win, hopefully adding another in a more dominant fashion. Between Ottawa Friday and Chicago Saturday, this team has two really good opportunities for a dominant victory, something they haven’t done this season that they can really use to kick-start an even more needed win streak.
Chris Feldman
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