The Rangers Are Becoming The Comeback Kids Again

It certainly wasn’t pretty, but the New York Rangers scraped away with a 3-2 victory over the Boston Bruins.

The Rangers had just lost to Boston on Saturday afternoon and with both teams fighting for a playoff position in the Eastern Conference, this was a critical game.

A beautifully timed hit in the form J.T. Miller led to a goal by Artemi Panarin to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead in the second period.

The line of Miller, Panarin and Mika Zibanejad have been clicking on all cylinders in their three games together.

It’s safe to say Peter Laviolette has been impressed with this newly established trio.

“They seem excited to play with each other,” Peter Laviolette said. “There were some results offensively right away. That builds a little hype inside of themselves. They are playing big minutes in tough matchups, yet they are still producing and doing a good job.”

Disaster quickly struck for the Rangers though as the Bruins scored two goals in 16 seconds, taking a 2-1 lead going into the final frame.

The Blueshirts kept their composure in the third period and managed to rally their way back.

It started when Vincent Trocheck found the back of the net 5:27 into the period.

Minutes later Chris Kreider put the cherry on top with a short-handed goal assisted by Mika Zibanejad. These two have been explosive on the penalty kill together for so many years and they were able to work their magic once again.

“It’s pretty amazing the way they work together,” Laviolette said of Kreider and Zibanejad. “Kreider literally shot out of a cannon there from the defensive zone… I thought it was a great pass from Mika. I thought the pickup from Kreider to be able to pick that up and have the poise to control it on a really tough angle and put it into the back of the net. Obviously the biggest goal of the night.”

It’s now been two consecutive games where the Rangers have come back from behind in the third to win.

It’s a testament to how far this team has come from just a few weeks ago.

“We’ve always had the confidence to do it,” Adam Fox said about the Rangers’ ability to come back from behind. “Our identity has been those comebacks and never being out of a game. I think we have the firepower to hang with anyone and score when we have to, so it’s been nice.”

As New York continues to win, the confidence in the group is growing rapidly and that clearly shows in their game recently.

“From the turn of the calendar to where we are at right now, there’s been a lot more winning and I think that builds confidence as a team,” Laviolette said. “It can build confidence in individuals, give you the belief that you can win hockey games. It can work the other way as well. Just that confidence in guys’ game from winning games, I think that builds inside the room. It’s contagious.”

The Rangers will be back in action on Friday night against the Pittsburgh Penguins.