Despite all the bad puck luck associated with a goal not counting and more than five shots ringing off the posts, the Rangers found a way to battle it out, and come out on top against an aggressive Nashville Predators team. Overall, the Rangers played a resilient, near complete game and battled it out right til the end to come out on top, 3-1. The Rangers have now won three games in a row and what makes it more impressive is they’ve done it all without two of their top six forwards. Shesterkin is off to an incredible start, bailing the Rangers out when they need it and the rest of the team is starting to click, finding their roles and growing in them.
The Rangers got off to a quick start, going up by one just over two minutes into the game with a nice backhand shot from Filip Chytil. Sammy Blais, who was one of the more impressive Rangers throughout the night, fed Chytil a nice pass on the breakout to make this one happen. Overall, the period was pretty split, both teams registered ten or more shots on goal and each took a penalty without allowing a goal. As a fan, you had to like the pace of this game and the energy was steadily increasing throughout the battle.
The second period would be full of penalties which put a spotlight on one of the more concerning problems for the Rangers and that’s the power play. The Ranges would go 0 for 4 on the power play throughout the night which is unacceptable. You have to hope it's a confidence thing, that once they get that first one, the power play goals will continue to come but until that happens, you have to worry about what isn’t working for it. Approaching the halfway mark of the period, wouldn’t you believe someone got the first goal of their NHL career against the Rangers?! Philip Tomasino scores to tie the game up and to become the THIRD rookie to get his first against the Rangers this season. For those keeping score, we’ve only played five games.
Five minutes into the third, Ryan Lindgren, who hasn’t scored a goal since April 15th against the Devils, lets what was intended as a pass go, and ends up in the back of the net off a redirect. Upon review, the play was offside and we’re back to a tie game. At this point, the Rangers had already rung several shots off the post, it was clear puck luck was not going to be in their favor tonight. Around the halfway mark of the third, the play once again starts with Adam Fox and it’s Sammy Blais who pulls off a beautiful move to get around a defender and get the pass over to Alexis Lafreniere to take the lead and this time, it’ll count.
I’ll tell ya, I know a lot of fans were unhappy with the Buchnevich trade and I agree, we could’ve and should’ve gotten more in return for the player that Buch is. However, don’t let that down play the player that is Sammy Blais. The impression many fans got was this was just another move to add “grit” to this team but Sammy Blais has good hands and a lot more skill than people may realize. If the defensive side of his game improves, he has the potential to grow into a Jesper Fast type of role on this team with a little more flash.
The Preds would make a push, but the Rangers weren’t budging and it was Barclay Goodrow who put the icing on the cake with an empty net goal. Again, it is early and this team is still clicking but Barclay Goodrow needs to be better, especially considering what we are paying him. He took a bad penalty early and the third and turned the puck over countless times. There was one play in particular on a penalty kill where he needed to take the shot but instead, slowed down and tried to force a pass that turned into a giveaway and an odd man rush for Nashville.
Aside from that, there wasn’t much to complain about. The Rangers still weren’t great in the face off circle but were way better than they were in Toronto. They took a couple penalties but killed them off. I really liked how the Lafreniere - Chytil - Blais line looked and that’s key for this team while they’re without Strome and Kakko. I am starting to question how important Ryan Strome may be to this team, and Artemi Panarin specifically. Panarin went another game without a point and has made it clear he misses Strome, once he returns if Strome starts to put up points, If I’m the Rangers, I may begin considering a Strome extension.
Nevertheless, the Rangers are officially hot and will return to Canada to take on the Senators this Saturday for an afternoon game. They’ll look to extend their win streak to four games and continue to build off of this new identity they’re beginning to form. It’ll be a good test to see how they come out for an afternoon game after playing two nights prior and to see just how much this momentum will push the team going forward.
Chris Feldman
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