The New York Rangers won their fourth straight game on this five-game road trip in an absolutely wild fashion.
The New York Rangers may have bent last night, but they never broke. This was not your typical "No Quit In New York" type of Rangers victory. It wasn't a group that was down but not out, but rather a team that was facing adversity and fought back.
When I spoke to Peter Laviolette two weeks ago, something that stuck out was when he said "I think you're going to have figure out how to win a lot of different ways. Every game is played different."
The difference in this game was special teams as both teams had six power plays. The Rangers tallied on three of them and the Canucks were only able to score once on the man-advantage.
This game was certainly an emotional roller coaster, especially in the third period. The Rangers found themselves on a power play, but a rare bad pass from Adam Fox led to a shorthanded goal from Tyler Myers, which gave the Canucks their first and only lead of the night, halfway through the final frame.
That Myers goal gave the Canucks a ton of momentum. They ended up dominating most of a double minor penalty, which they were on the kill for. Shortly after, the Canucks shot themselves in the foot as a too many men penalty would change the outcome of the game.
Fox stepped up right away after his crucial turnover and was able to tie the game on a 5-on-3. Then, a minute and thirteen seconds later, he set up Mika Zibanejad for his first goal of the season which gave the Rangers back the lead. Seeing Fox shake off that mistake and make up for it in a big way was incredibly important for this group.
New York's power play continues to be the driving force of this team's offense. The Rangers went 3/6 on the man-advantage last night, with two of those goals coming at such a critical time. The Rangers now have the second-best power play in the league, converting at 34.5% and on this four-game winning streak they have converted on six of their 15 attempts.
The power play is buzzing.
The eventual game-wining overtime goal would be a very controversial one.
Chris Kreider made a strong defensive play on Elias Petterson, which on any given night could have been called a tripping penalty, which then spreed him on a 2-on-1 rush with K'Andre Miller. Kreider fed Miller across the "royal road" for a one-time blast that would beat Casey DeSmith cleanly, giving the Rangers their fourth straight win.
I watched multiple angles of this Kreider-Petterson collision late last night. At first I thought it was a questionable non-call. It appeared that Kreider had stuck his leg out when Petterson got by him, especially on this angle.
But, after finding multiple looks at the play, Petterson also sticks his left leg out as he tries to complete his move. It appeared that both players owned the same ice and their left legs were on a collision course.
After sleeping on it, I still feel that this call could have gone either way. This time it worked out in the Rangers favor, but you have to feel for the Canucks as well. Vancouver was the better team for most of the night, especially in overtime, and nobody wants to see a game end on a controversial call like that.
With that said, Igor Shesterkin was phenomenal and helped the Rangers steal a win on the road. He made 30 saves, and some big ones at that. Artemi Panarin extended his point streak to eight games as he tallied a goal and an assist last night, giving him 12 points on the season.
This was a character win for the Rangers and a night that they can build on as they're set to finish up their road trip on Monday night in Winnipeg.
Sad news out of Nottingham:
I must say that in the grand scheme of things, the result of this game did not matter. The hockey community suffered a tragic loss last night in the EIHL during a Nottingham Panthers game. Adam Johnson unfortunately passed away after a freak accident in their game. I am personally at a loss for words. An injury like this is something that I cannot fathom. I have some friends that played with Adam in the past, and I cannot imagine how they, along with his family, as well as everyone that was in Sheffield last night are feeling.
When you lace up the skates, you never think something as tragic as this could happen. I just wanted to end this story by saying that my heart is with the Johnson family, may Adam rest in peace.