It was definitely a goalies night at the Garden as both Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan quick stopped 30 and 36 shots respectively. Quick, a Connecticut native (same hometown as yours truly) who grew up a Rangers fan always brings his A game against the Rangers and tonight was no exception. This game could've easily been a 5-2 win for the Rangers had Quick not played the way he did. Nevertheless, goals did not come easy in this physical, high intensity matchup that would ultimately need to be decided by a shootout.
The puck dropped as the Rangers celebrated pride night at the Garden and it took some time for the action to really pick up. The Kings got their first crack at the power play after Jacob Trouba got called for Hi-sticking just over the halfway mark of the period. Shesterkin and the Rangers killed it off and play would continue with the Kings getting the majority of the chances early. With less than four minutes to go it was Brendan Lemieux catching up with his former teammates and not in the good way. The young winger is living up to his name as the controversy continues to follow him with his questionable hits and other decisions on the ice. It wasn't too long ago that Lemieux got himself in some trouble for biting Ottawa Senators captain Brady Tkatchuk. Yes, biting.
Tonight, he would receive a five minute major and a game misconduct for Boarding Ryan Lindgren. The Rangers would only get the man advantage for three of those minutes as Lindgren delivered quite the cross check to the back of Lemieux during the scrum that followed the cheap shot and rightfully so. As Lemieux mouthed off on his way to the locker room the teams prepared for two minutes of four on four before the Rangers headed to the power play for the rest of the period and then some. It was this power play where the moment Rangers fans have been waiting over a decade for finally happened. Chris Kreider, finally hit the 30 goal mark after having several 28 goal seasons as well as other 20+ goal seasons. Not only does Kreider hit the 30 mark, he extends his goal scoring streak to five games.
The second period would be all LA. I wrote about it in my pregame piece that this Kings team is one you can't sleep on. There weren't many expectations that they would be as good as they are this season but they have lots of skilled youth and still have their core guys in Kopitar, Brown and Doughty. One of those young players that has been really good and pretty underrated this season is Blake Lizotte and he's certainly familiarizing himself with the Rangers as he scores in his second game in a row against the Blueshirts with a heck of a wrist shot. Late in the period, Alex Iafallo scored on the power play to give the Kings a one goal lead.
The Rangers spent most of the period down, however when it came down to crunch time, Barclay Goodrow got a stick on a Artemi Panarin shot that resulted in a beautiful tip-in to time this game up at two. The energy definitely picked up in this game in the final minutes of regulation as this one would be on it's way to overtime. The Rangers would start overtime with a power play thanks to Adrian Kempe tripping up Zibanejad with a little over a minute left in the third. The Rangers wouldn't convert and there wouldn't be any play stoppages for those five minutes making it a four on four overtime.
Despite a couple of solid chances, we would head to the shootout, a stressful one for the fans. After a pair of saves on both sides, Kopitar would score, putting the pressure on Artemi Panarin. Panarin came down incredibly patient and confident, waited for Quick to open something up and put the puck in the back of the net. Iafallo and Strome would both be stopped, Quinton Byfield would not. Byfield, who was the second overall pick in the 2020 draft, put the pressure on the Rangers to keep this one alive. Gallant decided to go with Lafreniere, the first overall pick in the 2020 draft. I think I speak for all Rangers fans when I say thank goodness Lafreniere scored there and him holding up a finger, indicating he was number one as he skated by the Kings bench was absolutely classic.
Arthur Kaliev would be stopped and Adam Fox, who had the primary assist on Kreider's 30th goal, pulled off a silky move and roofed a backhander passed Quick. He roofed it so much that the puck got stuck in the top of the net, making it look like the puck disappeared. An exciting finish to good close hockey game and the Rangers advance to 3-1 since coming off their road trip. The Blueshirts will have two days of no games before heading to Ohio for the start of their back to back that ends at home for Henrik Lundqvist night. A pair of big games for this team that keeps on finding a way and making it quiet the fun season for the fans.
Chris Feldman
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