The New York Rangers walked out of the Garden with their third win in a row against the Devils as they head across the river in hopes of sweeping them in their fourth meeting in six days. It was an eventful day for Pavel Buchnevich who celebrated his 26th birthday with a hat trick, helping his team to come out on top by a score of 6-3. This would however bring Igor Sheshterkin's shutout streak to an end, just under the 200 minute mark, very impressive for the Prince of New York. The Rangers wrap up their season meetings with the Devils today and should have their expectations set on nothing short of another win.
The Rangers wasted little time on Saturday afternoon getting after it when seven and a half into the game Pavel Buchnevich scored on an odd man rush with Mika Zibanejad. A perfect play and a great way to start off the freshly turned 26 year olds birthday. Just a couple minutes later the Devils would take a penalty but would apparently forget they did as they would end up with five guys on the ice, resulting in a bench minor penalty for too many men. Serves Lindy Ruff right for challenging Kravtsov's goal in the previous game, but I digress. With the 5-on-3, the Rangers would get chance after chance and shot after shot, finally resulting in a Ryan Strome goal to make it 2-0. A nice goal for Strome who had his daughter in the stands for kids day at the Garden.
Still on the man advantage, the Rangers kept pressing and it would be Pavel Buchnevich again, this time from Blackwell and Miller to make it 3-0. The second period would start under the impression that the Rangers were going to run away with this one. Artemi Panarin scored 32 seconds in to make it 4-0 good guys. However the Rangers seemed to take their foot of the gas just enough for the Devils to crawl back into it slowly but surely. Sheshterkin kept the streak going more than halfway though the period but around the twelve minute mark, Michael McLeod found the back of the net, ending the streak and starting a jolt in momentum for his team.
To the third we go and about five and a half minutes into it P.K. Subban let a slap shot go to cut the Rangers lead in half. About a minute later the Rangers would have a big uh oh moment when Yegor Sharangovich found the back of the net and the Devils found themselves within one with more than half the period to go. Rightfully so, David Quinn called a time out to break up the momentum and to get his team in check. Panarin's early second period goal should've been the dagger but acted as a wake up call for the Devils instead.
The Rangers kept themselves in it just enough and when Lindy Ruff pulled Aaron Dell for the extra attacker, Pavel Buchnevich found the empty netter and became the first player in New York Rangers history to score a hat trick on his birthday. Buchnevich really starting to cement himself in Rangers trivia history between that and that 20,000th goal in team history. About a minute later the Rangers would find the empty net again, this time by Chris Kreider who desperately needed it to help get his confidence back as he has been very cold. That would do it and the Rangers would take their third win against the Devils.
As we head into game four today, I would again go ahead and say to expect the same line up we've seen for the last three games. You know what they say, if it ain't broke don't fix it. It will be interesting to see what they do with the goaltending situation, typically in back to back games, each goalie plays but I wouldn't be surprised if they stick with Sheshterkin. Again, if it ain't broke don't fix it but David Quinn also made it clear they were going to rely on him as the season dwindles and the playoff chase becomes more and more intense. Plus, the Rangers next two games are against the Islanders, a team Georgiev is statically great against so wouldn't be surprised if they wait to use him for that match up on Tuesday.
Either way, the wins are more and more important with each passing day. The Rangers have been very good for the most part in the past few games and at the very least have been so much fun to watch. All you can do is hope for the Bruins, Islanders and Penguins to lose and for the Rangers to win this one and then move on to our two games with the Islanders. The game plan should stay the same going into game four, expect Blackwood to return to the net and keep the shots and offensive zone possession going!
Chris Feldman
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