The New York Rangers take care of business and do what they’ve done best this season, finding a way to win, coming out on top against Buffalo 5-4. In a game that certainly had its moments, the Rangers cleaned up in the third period and with less than a second left, solidified a victory. This comes as a big win as the Rangers will have a couple practices days before playing in two huge games to kick off the holiday against the New York Islanders and the Boston Bruins for the Thanksgiving Showdown.
The Rangers got off to a shaky start as The Rangers took a couple penalties, the latter one resulting in a Rasmus Asplund power play goal to give Buffalo a one goal lead. Just as this game would go, things would flip and the Rangers would head to the power play in the period's final minute. In what’s essentially becoming an expectation, Chris Kreider once again had Sam Rosen screaming “It’s a power play goal!” His thirteenth goal of the season, with Panarin and Fox both getting their thirteenth assist of the season on the play. Sam didn’t have an answer for what coincidence of the numbers meant and frankly, neither did I, but on we went.
The start of the second had Rangers fans up in arms as Jarred Tinordi, who played his first ever game at Madison Square Garden, giving Nils Lundkvist the night off, gave up a terrible turnover, resulting in a Vinnie Hinostroza goal. One Georgiev probably could’ve and should’ve had as well. It took some time but the Rangers were able to bounce right back when Jacob Trouba put a loose puck in the back of the net to tie the game up at two.
About twelve minutes into the second would be the worst time to decide on a bathroom or snack break. Kaapo Kakko, found the back of the net again to extend his point streak, giving the Rangers their first lead of the game. 50 seconds later, Tage Thompson scored on a shot through traffic to bring the Sabres right back in it. Fifteen seconds after that, Rasmus Dahlin scored off a slap shot that went past Georgiev to give his team the lead yet again. Seventeen seconds after that, K’Andre Miller scored through some traffic to tie the game up yet again. That would be four goals in less than a minute and a half.
The third would be a little less exciting (until the final minutes) however, the Rangers really cleaned up their game which is important. What’s going to prove to be a pretty big concern for the Rangers is Alexandar Georgiev, who did not return to the game for the third period in what was labelled a coach's decision. What that pretty much means is Head Coach Gerard Gallant saw what we all saw, Georgiev not playing up to the level he should be. I’ve been very on the record for being team Georgeiv and firmly believed the Rangers had to trust him to win some games this season, even if he struggled. While it’s still early in the season, the leash is going to start getting tighter and tighter, if it hasn’t run its course already.
Hindsight is 20/20, looking back I’m sure the Rangers wish they sold high on Georgiev as they are in a bit of a pickle now. The Rangers have good goals up and down the organization, if we’re not there already, I think we’re pretty darn close to thinking about revisiting Keith Kinkaid playing in the NHL or giving Adam Huska a shot. Georgiev’s kind of in a similar position to Libor Hajek in the sense that the Rangers are ready to move on but can’t seem to find a trade partner. Considering Georgiev’s game hasn’t been all that good to start the season, it’s becoming more and more challenging to make a move. In the meantime, you have to hope that Georgiev finds his confidence and his game will come with it. However, I’m not all that confident the Rangers aren’t considering sending him to Hartford which will most likely result in him being claimed on waivers. Unless of course he gets the Libor Hajek “conditioning” clause to avoid the waivers.
Nevertheless, that’s a worry for another day. With Shesterkin in net, the Rangers picked it up and limited Buffalo to four shots the whole period. The Rangers killed a penalty early and had plenty of chances to score throughout the game's final period. It looked as though the game was destined for overtime, the puck was locked in the skates of both teams battling players in the corner as the final second approached. With no time to spare, the Rangers got the puck out and Adam Fox got it to Zibanejad who found Ryan Lindgren creeping in the slot to put it in the back of the net with .4 remaining.
They would add some time back on the clock but not enough to do much else than drop the puck. The Rangers win and now hold a record of 11-4-3, two points behind Washington and three behind Carolina. While somewhat of a gap is beginning to be formed between the wild card teams and the Rangers in third, the Metro remains to be the league's toughest division and it’s important the Rangers keep doing their thing and find every way to win. New York will have three days of no games before taking on the Islanders in their new arena Wednesday night. Not a lot of games this week, but significant one’s that have potential to be key games for the Blueshirts this season.
Chris Feldman
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