The New York Rangers bounced back in a big way on Tuesday night, defeating the Vancouver Canucks 2-0 in what was a gutsy all-around effort.
Going into this matchup, the Rangers were coming off three consecutive losses, as they were beginning to lose their defensive identity that Mike Sullivan had attempted to instill in the team.
Surprisingly, the storyline of this game had nothing to do with on-ice play.
J.T. Miller made his highly anticipated return to Vancouver for the first time since being traded to the Rangers last season.
In the first period, a tribute video was played at Rogers Place to honor Miller. The 32-year-old forward admitted that he was emotional, especially with his family in attendance.
“It’s an emotional game for sure,” Miller said. “It actually went better than I thought. I thought I was going to be a little worse… It’s just surreal. You don’t realize how lucky you are. Just really happy that my kids got to be here today and my wife, it means a ton to me. I just feel super lucky to have that support in a hockey crazy city. It was a really special chapter of my life here.”
For 60 minutes, the Rangers played a well-structured game at both ends of the ice, and their improvements from just 48 hours before in Calgary were fully prevalent.
The Blueshirts set the tone offensively, breaking into the zone smoothly with precision at a consistent level.
Mika Zibanejad scored a goal late in the first period off of a feed from Will Cuylle and a breakout pass from Adam Fox. Ultimately, that goal was all the Rangers needed.
It was the Rangers’ defensive game that stood out the most. Holding a one-goal lead for the majority of the contest, New York played a well-structured defensive game.
They brought a physical energy, while playing a much steadier brand of hockey, something we saw from this team over the first few games of the season, but had seemed to disappear as of late.
It also helped that Jonathan Quick made some pivotal stops, including many down the stretch en route to a 23-save shutout.
“It was a great team game from start to finish,” Quick said. “We checked hard and competed through the neutral zone in front of our net, and it went a long way.”
Since Mike Sullivan’s arrival, the Rangers have undergone a transformation, attempting to change their identity and become a defensively stingy team.
Mike Sullivan Divulges Reasoning For Scratching Brennan Othmann And Matthew Robertson
The New York <a href="https://thehockeynews.com/nhl/new-york-rangers/">Rangers</a> will make two surprising scratches in Tuesday night’s game against the Vancouver Canucks.
These are the types of performances where you can truly see Sullivan’s impact and what he’s trying to establish.
“That's the game that we've put on the ice for most of this year,” Sullivan said. “When we play that way, we're going to give ourselves a chance to win every night. I thought the guys played really hard.
“I thought their intentions, our mindset was in the right place. We defended hard. When there were breakdowns, we got some good saves from Quickie. I just think from a team structure standpoint and overall team game, I thought we were much better tonight.”
The Rangers will be back in action on Thursday night against the Edmonton Oilers.