Well, welcome back Rangers fans. No need to worry about a boring game of the boys getting their legs back as this turned out to be one of the most exciting games, not even specific to just the Rangers, of the 2022-23 regular season. The Rangers and Flames wasted no time getting after each other in a game that truly had a little bit of everything. Goals, fights, enormous hits, emotion, back and forth action with the final result coming down to overtime. This game had hockey fans everywhere glued to their TV’s and really led to the Rangers starting off the final stretch of the season on a strong note. And to think, they did all this with one of the best goalies in the world on the bench as Jaro Halak had a great game, giving Shesterkin the night off after All-Star weekend.
It would only take the Rangers five minutes to get on the board in this one and it was a certain Rangers forward who was on a hot streak before the break picking up right where he left off. Filip Chytil wasted no time on the rush of a nice breakout that started with Adam Fox that led to him snapping a shot past Jacob Markstrom, 1-0 Rangers. About five minutes after that, Blake Coleman would get credit for tucking away a loose puck at an awkward angle on the side of the net. Puck may have gone off of Fox’s stick as it was just an unlucky puck scramble in up close, 1-1 game. Not long after that would Jacob Trouba spark some extra heat from these Flames with one of his signature center ice hits.
Jacob Trouba delivered a big, clean hit on Dillon Dube to which Flames’ veteran defenseman Chris Tanev decided to drop the gloves and challenge Trouba. This wouldn’t even be the biggest hit of the night nor would it be the first time Trouba would be forced to answer the bell but thankfully, it seemed to work out in our favor each time. Now it’s going to be a challenge to say this without sounding biased but have to give some credit where it’s due. So often do we find ourselves complaining about officiating and because of that, I find it important to credit the officiating for calling a good, fair game. That began with the officials giving Tanev the extra penalty for being the third man in which he clearly was in the fight with Trouba. I’m all for defending your teammates and letting it be known that you’ll drop the gloves when push comes to shove but it’s getting quite exhausting, especially for Trouba, that every time he delivers a good clean hockey hit he has to answer the call.
The Rangers would get a power play as a result of the fight but couldn’t capitalize then just over two minutes later, it was full on fight night at the Garden. Sammy Blais, who had quite an eventful night in his return to the lineup, laid a massive hit on Milan Lucic, who for people who may not have followed hockey religiously over the last decade plus, is about as tough a customer can come. At first glance, it may have looked like Blais delivered the hit to Lucic’s head which probably would’ve been the end of Blais’ night and hurt the Rangers but while the officials were reviewing everything, declared it a clean hit and a non penalty. Sure enough, the hit from Blais resulted in Nikita Zadorov going after him and Will Cuylle squared off with Mackenzie Weegar as Jake Leschysyn got tangled up with Lucic. The closest thing we’ve gotten to a line brawl since the infamous Tom Wilson fiasco.
While most of the aforementioned players sat in the penalty box, the officials went to work figuring out how to assign the penalties. In that process, they came to the proper conclusion that Sammy Blais’ hit to Milan Lucic was indeed a clean hit therefore the only penalties assigned were to Weegar and Cuylle for fighting with an extra penalty to Lucic for roughing. This again left the Rangers on the power play, although again could not get that puck in the net.
With little time wasted once again, Filip Chytil went to work and found himself on a breakaway where he put a wrist shot away to regain the Rangers lead. Would be more of a quiet second period until the Rangers got called for a too-many men penalty. Artemi Panarin was a little too eager to get on the ice as the Rangers touched the puck before Cuylle could get off the ice. Panarin would be the one to serve the penalty, rightfully selected by Gallant as he not only doesn’t kill penalties but was also the cause of the penalty being called. Sure enough, the Flames took advantage of the opportunity and Tyler Toffoli would tie the game up at two.
From the moment Toffoli scored to the start of the final minute of the period, things calmed down a bit but drastically picked back up when Jacob Trouba laid an even bigger hit to Nazem Kadri. Now you would think a player like Naz, especially after the hit on Dube would consider the importance of keeping your head up and taking notice when Trouba is on the ice. Low and behold, he did not and Trouba let him know with another clean, monstrous hit that sent Kadri’s helmet flying and this time Dillon Dube rushing to his teammates defense in challenging Trouba. Dube didn’t stand much of a chance against Trouba and again, the officials called it correctly and assigned Dube a misconduct that left him unavailable until the final minutes of the third.
To the third we went and for the first half of it, it seemed like the game was going to get away from the Rangers. Andrew Mangiapane scored on a deflection to tie the game up and then a Mark Stone slap shot gave the Flames their first lead of the night around the twelve minute mark. While the Flames crawled back into it and seemed to have control of things, there was a feeling that the Rangers weren’t out of it by any means. As we got over the halfway mark of the period, the Rangers increased their chances and with just under seven minutes to go, Mika Zibanjead deflected a shot from Artemi Panarin to tie the game back up. The assist from Panarin not only came as his 40th on the year, but made him the fastest player in Rangers history to hit 300 points with the organization.
All signs pointed to the two teams gearing up for an exciting final but for the Rangers, there was a bit of stress that came with it as Vincent Trocheck was sent off for tripping with a little over two minutes left. The Flames had their chances but the Rangers did a great job of killing the penalty and before we knew it, time was on the verge of expiring. However, the Rangers had one more great chance that could have been the game winner and gave Filip Chytil the hattrick. Alas, Chytil selflessly looked to pass the puck to Kreider instead of shooting which would not get to him cleanly with enough room. An exciting finish to regulation but as a result, we were headed to overtime. In 97 seconds of bonus hockey, both teams had looks but in the end, Alexis Lafreniere had a great rush which of course he opted to feed Zibanejad. Thankfully, he was able to reward himself for his selflessness by putting away the rebound to give his team the win in such an exciting victory.
After that last minute comeback against Dallas, it was hard to imagine a game could get anymore exciting but the Rangers certainly challenged that idea last night. An overall great win that saw solid contributions from everyone up and down the line up. You have to think that this was one of those games where everyone was looking around the locker room afterwards and thinking that several different guys could be deserving of the night’s broadway hat nomination. The Rangers are back at it Wednesday Night against the Vancouver Canucks as they will look to keep this thing going with Igor Shesterkin back in net.
Chris Feldman
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