The New York Rangers finish off their road trip with a big win against Boston, a completely flipped effort from Thursday night's game. The Rangers did exactly what they had to do in order to come out on top after losing by the same score on Thursday. They played with urgency and played hard right from puck drop to the third period buzzer. This is the kind of play they need to carry on into back to back home games against Philly.
The Rangers started the game out strong, generating puck possession, playing with purpose and it paid off. Three minutes in K'Andre Miller took a shot from the point that went through traffic and past Halak to make it 1-0 early. The Rangers carried the dominate play throughout the remainder of the first period and into the second, keeping the Bruins to six shots on goal.
One of the things that made the Rangers so successful was the fact that they kept Boston to under 10 shots on goal each period. By doing so, they also eliminated high danger scoring chances and by contrast, had over ten shots on Jaroslav Halak each period. Just a little over five minutes into the second, Chris Kreider caught a pass from Mika Zibanejad back door to make it 2-0. The teams would exchange penalties afterwords, but would fail to convert as both teams are stellar on the penalty kill.
About eight minutes into the third, Ryan Strome would find the puck on his stick right in the slot to put the Blueshirts up 3-0 for his tenth of the season. Continuing to prove people wrong, Ryan Strome has quietly been one of the teams most consistent players once he got going and is second in goals behind Chris Kreider. About eight minutes after that, Pavel Buchnevich would join in on the fun and make this game 4-0.
Keith Kinkaid didn't have the busiest of nights, but was solid through 18 saves collecting his first shutout since Halloween of 2019. If Sheshterkin remains unavailable this week, look for Kinkaid to get the start against Philly at home. Julien Gauthier being a healthy scratch yesterday was very questionable and can only assume it had to do with wanting a physical edge over Boston. Look for him to return to the line up probably in place of Brendan Lemieux, who had the least amount of ice time, yet most amount of penalty minutes.
Consistency is the name of the game now. Mika Zibanejad talked about it after the game, it is certainly important that the team got this win but what is most important now is the ability to build something off of it. They have that opportunity with back to back home games against Philadelphia followed by back to back road games in Washington. If they continue to play like this, limiting teams to 18 shots on goal, they are going to be very successful.
Chris Feldman
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