It was a specials teams Saturday night with just one goal scored at 5 on 5
The New York Rangers edged the Vancouver Canucks 4-3 in overtime in a game that started slowly and ended with a bang. K'Andre Miller scored the game winner 3:48 into the extra period to help the Rangers extend their win streak to four games. The Canucks, on the other hand, saw their three game win streak halted but they ran their point streak to four games (3-0-1). Here are some postgame thoughts and observations:
*The Rangers scored three power play goals (including a pair with two-man advantages) and then netted the winner at 3-on-3 in overtime. If the Canucks had been able to stay out of the penalty box, they controlled Saturday's game five on five. But self-inflicted wounds were the story of the night. Filip Hronek put the Canucks two men short with a puck over the glass in the first period. That led to the game's first goal. The Canucks took a too many men penalty while short-handed that led to the 2-2 goal midway through the third. Those were costly mistakes that ultimately put too much pressure on a penalty kill that has shown signs of progress this season, but remains a work in progress.
*Elias Pettersson played a career-high 27:03 on the second night of back to backs eclipsing his previous high by nearly two full minutes. Pettersson logged 25:17 in a game in Nashville late last season. Until Saturday, that was the most he had ever skated in an NHL regular season game. Against the Rangers, he played 13:34 at evens, 9:40 on the power play and added 3:49 of short-handed ice time. Pettersson had an assist on Saturday to bump his season point total to 2+11=13. Jack Hughes and Dylan Larkin are the only players in the NHL with more points than EP40 through the completion of Saturday's schedule.
*Pettersson had a pair of shifts in overtime. He was out for 57 seconds early on and then for 1:04 seconds on the shift that resulted in the game winner. On the play, Pettersson appeared to have been tripped by Chris Kreider in the Rangers zone. No call was made on the play. With Pettersson down, the Rangers broke out with the puck. Kreider crossed the Vancouver blueline on left wing and slipped a cross slot pass to K'Andre Miller who had jumped up into the rush. Miller pulled the trigger on a one-timer and made no mistake burying the puck past Casey DeSmith.
*The Canucks did a lot of things well in a losing cause. They became the first team this season to register 30 shots on the Rangers finishing the night with 33. At 5-on-5, they controlled the run of the play with 58% of all shot attempts and 62% of expected goals. The Canucks top two lines spent most of their nights in the offensive end, but didn't have much to show for a strong effort. Give some of the credit to Igor Shesterkin who, as usual, was strong between the pipes for the Rangers. JT Miller was the lone Canucks forward to score on Saturday tipping home a Filip Hronek point shot on a second period power play.
*The Canucks defense corps is outscoring the team's depth forwards in the early stages of this season. With Tyler Myers and Carson Soucy each scoring on Saturday, the Canucks now have seven goals from defensemen. Only Ottawa with 8 has more. The Canucks D has seven goals. The depth fowards have six -- and two of those came on opening night against the Oilers. Nils Höglander has a pair to lead the supporting cast while Conor Garland, Dakota Joshua, Sam Lafferty and Jack Studnicka each have one. However, Höglander in Nashville is the only depth forward to score since the team's season-opening head to head with Edmonton. That is concerning.
*After back to back games, Sunday is a full team day off for the Canucks. They will practice Monday before rounding out their homestand and their October schedule with a Hallowe'en night game against Nashville on Tuesday the 31st.