Despite allowing Buffalo to tie the game in the final seconds, the Rangers come out on top with an overtime win 3-2. The Rangers are now only THREE points out of a playoff spot. Sure they have less games in hand than the teams above them but there's still a chance and that's all we can ask for. Of course the game didn't get off to a strong start like we wanted, Rasmus Asplund found the puck in a scramble in front of the net that resulted in the back of the net, 1-0 Buffalo just a couple minutes into the game.
The Rangers would begin to pick it up and with two and half to go in the first, would head to the power play off a Casey Mittlestadt roughing call. The Rangers power play would look good all game in the sense that they generated strong puck possession and passed the puck beautifully. As far as getting shots and scoring opportunities go.. that would be a different story. Needless to say, the Rangers would not execute on the power play and instead would take a careless penalty with four seconds left in the first.
No harm no foul into the second, the Rangers killed off the power play and would continue to play strong. About six and a half minutes into the second one of the weirdest plays of the season would occur. Jeff Skinner found himself on a breakaway.. without his stick. Libor Hajek coughed up the puck at the blue line as a result of Skinner's forecheck however in an attempt to slow him down, knocked the stick out of his hands. Jeff Skinner would still get a breakaway but with no stick he really couldn't do anything. This led to the Rangers regaining possession and Colin Blackwell would ring a shot off the crossbar. Just a few seconds later on the next play, Strome found Panarin who fed it back to Blackwell for a one timer slap shot that was so quick the camera crew on MSG couldn't even keep up. 1-1 game.
To the third we go, the Rangers continue to apply pressure in a game they need to win. About six minutes in, the Blueshirts would take their first lead of the game. He wouldn't get credited with an assist but this goal doesn't happen without Jacob Trouba. There was a lot of concern with Trouba when he wasn't playing up to some fans standards in the first year of his contract but man he's quietly been one of the most important players of this team. Sure he's not perfect but him and Miller have build some great chemistry and aside from the Fox and Lindgren pairing, has been one of our key defenders.
On an attempted breakout by Buffalo, Trouba pinches and takes possession of the puck, finding Gauthier with a pass in front of the net. Gauthier was inches away from putting the puck in himself, however kept hammering away at the puck that would end up on Chytil's stick and then the back of the net. Honestly, I just rewatched the play and I'm not sure why Alexis Lafreniere got credited with an assist as it didn't really seem like he touched the puck. Nevertheless, we have the lead and it's looking good.
With about two and a half to go, Buffalo calls a timeout but doesn't yet pull the goalie for an extra attacker. The Rangers cleared a couple attempts, got called for more icings than they would've liked and Buffalo did all they had to do, hang on. Honestly, I have to give some credit to Buffalo's coaching staff for trusting young guys like Casey Mittlestadt and Tage Thompson, who's game I really like, to be out there for the final minute of the game. Of course with six seconds left, it was Tage Thompson who found the back of the net.
To overtime we go, the Rangers controlled the play for the first half of the five minutes, then Buffalo controlled the next half. In what wasn't necessarily an offensive driven 3-on-3, the Rangers finally broke out on an odd man rush with Zibanejad and Panarin, resulting in Zibanejad putting the game away on his famous one timer. Again, have to give credit where credit is due, Dustin Tokarski had a great game stopping close to 50 shots from the Rangers. This was certainly a goalies game as Igor Sheshterkin was equally as strong. The two are back at it again on Saturday and the closer the Rangers are getting to that last playoff spot, the more intense and significant these games will become.
Chris Feldman
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