The New York Rangers played one of their most complete games of the season. The third period got away from them, but they were able to hang on and secure the win.
NEW YORK, NY -- The New York Rangers played what was almost a perfect 40 minutes, but a sloppy third period makes the 5-3 win seem a little tighter than the game really was.
LINEUP:
Kreider-Zibanejad-Wheeler
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafreniere
Cuylle-Bonino-Kakko
Vesey-Goodrow-Pitlick
Miller-Trouba
Lindgren-Gustafsson
Jones-Schneider
Quick
1ST PERIOD:
In my opinion, the New York Rangers had their best start to any game they've played this season. It was all New York in the opening five minutes of the game.
Vincent Trocheck scored a beautiful goal at the 1:40 mark of the game and the Rangers were outshooting Detroit by a whopping 9-0.
New York took two penalties in the opening frame, which could have been a recipe for disaster against this Red Wings team that has the league's fifth-best power play. Instead of allowing the momentum to slip away, the Rangers penalty kill stood strong and would continue to do so all night.
Jonathan Quick looked locked in early on.
The opening 20 minutes was one of the best period's that I saw this team play all season. After the first they were outshooting Detroit 13-5.
2ND PERIOD:
Blake Wheeler took his 2nd offensive zone penalty of the night in opening minute of the middle frame. I didn't like the call there, but Wheeler did get his arms around Jeff Petry.
The Rangers finally got their first look on the man-advantage in the second period, and who else but Chris Kreider ended up converting. This was Kreider's league-leading sixth power play goal of the year. Artemi Panarin would pick up an assist on the goal, extending his point streak to 12 games.
New York went right back to the power play shortly after. Trocheck was left wide open in the slot and fired home a pass from Mika Zibanejad to extend the lead to 3-0. This would be the Rangers second goal on the man-advantage in only 44 seconds.
The Rangers wouldn't slow down. Alexis Lafreniere, Trocheck and Panarin were hounding the Red Wings on the forecheck. Lafreniere caused a turnover and found a wide open Panarin who would go top-shelf on Ville Husso giving New York a 4-0 lead.
To me, this was one of the best games that I've ever seen Panarin play. I thought he was all over Detroit on the forecheck and turning that aggressiveness into offense. I spoke to Panarin after the game and told him that I thought he was buzzing all night on the forecheck and we had a good laugh. Panarin responded to me by saying "Glad someone see that haha. Usually you guys just looking for my mistakes. We feel good with eachother…our line..five guys on the forecheck…so much better haha”.
I also asked Laviolette in the postgame presser about his thoughts on Panarin and his linemates. Laviolette said "I thought the line was really good. Trocheck was really good. Laf [Lafreniere] was really good. I thought Artemi was really good. We got to talk about a few things in the third period, we'll take care of that tomorrow. That line was excellent."
The goals kept coming and coming. Zac Jones looked incredibly confident and had a couple of dazzling plays in the second period. Finally, he got a shot through that was deflected by Will Cuylle, giving the Rangers a 5-0 lead.
The second period was a fun one for the Rangers. It was arguably their best 40 minutes of the season thus far.
At the conclusion of the period, the Rangers were outshooting Detroit 26-12.
3RD PERIOD:
Even though they were playing well, the Rangers just couldn't stay out of the penalty box. Sure, they killed off every penalty, but the undisciplined play took away from their momentum.
Detroit scored two goals pretty quickly, cutting the deficit to 5-2. Michael Rasmussen had the first one and Klim Kostin made a strong individual effort just 20 seconds later. The game got away from the Rangers for a bit there in the final frame.
Things didn't get much better for New York in the third period.
Former Ranger Andrew Copp came streaking down the right side on a quick transition before sniping Quick to cut the lead to 5-3.
Madison Square Garden went silent.
It wasn't a pretty third period, but the Rangers hang on and found a way to win yet again. They now have points in eight straight games.
The Rangers captain has been incredibly impressive this season. I asked Laviolette after the game what his impression of Trouba has been. He had a ton of positive things to say "He's been unbelievable. I mean he's played such a really good game for us. A steady game. He and Key have been outstanding. They put up tough minutes on a nightly basis. I think that as a pair they've done a really good job. Jacob's done a really good job as a leader. He's done a really good job of playing defense, blocking shots, playing physical, everything that you would want from him. I think he's delivered."
It was nice to see Quick get a win in his first home start as a Ranger, but for him, he was just doing his job. Quick told me after the game "You know…any start where you get two points right. You’re just trying to get wins and climb the standings right. That’s what every teams trying to do and we’re the same.”
Overall, that's a big team win.