Rangers Roar Past Jets in 2-1 Scramble | NYR 2 WIN 1

In meeting the second NHL team within a week to leave Atlanta by visiting Winnipeg, Monday night’s victory was exactly what the Blueshirts needed.  It was messy and gritty in some places, with some serious domination issues in our zone at one point, but in the end, the Rangers came out with two points thanks to two power play goals including a late one from Ryan Callahan that ought to carry them to their Home Opener on Thursday night.

Considering everything, not bad for a week’s run in Canada (3-1 overall and 3-2-2 for this 7 game road trip).  Needless to say, there’s always room for improvement.  Here’s hoping they carry this momentum home to NYC.  The official recap can be found here.

With 28 saves, Marty Biron had a fantastic effort between the pipes, proving that even without Lundqvist (for a game or two), we still have some great goaltending talent on the ice.

Lundqvist was out after cramping up during the previous game and reports explain that the new skates he’s using tend to hurt his foot now and then. We can be pretty sure that he’ll be back for the home opener.

The first period was pretty back and forth, with good movement, but again, we seemed to have problems with penalties and being totally outshot by the opposition.  Throughout the first 7 games of the season, the Rangers on average are being outshot 31-22.  Against the Jets, the Rangers were outshot 28-17.  This is simply not good.  It is definitely a result of missing Marc Staal and Matt Sauer from the defense.

It is no help that the Rangers lead the NHL with average penalty minutes of more than 20 per game and there own power play, even helped by the 2 goals in this game is clicking at an anemic 10.7%.  Finally, being outshot also is an indictment of the offense generally.  Coach Tortorella noticed as serious bench time was liberally handed out to Brad Richards, Marian Gaborik and Artie Anisimov  during the 3rd period. 

An early fight between Brandon Prust and Tanner Glass ended up with them being in the box for a five minute major, but this, along with another Ranger penalty in the same period led to no damage as Biron and the Ranger defense were able to keep the game scoreless.

The second period had a great goal on a Ranger power play with Dan Girardi firing hard from the blue line. Ruslan Fedotenko (who overall had a tremendous game) was in the right place for a sweet deflection past Jet goalie Chris Mason. Unfortunately, the Jets came back near the end of the period thanks to a crisp quick-look shot by former Ranger Nik Andropov to tie the game going into the 3rd period.

About 5 minutes into the 3rd, the ice slanted in favor of the Jets.  The Rangers simply could not clear the puck out of their zone.  Every time they tried to clear the puck, a Jet was ready to capture it at the point and send it right back in.  The activity in the defensive end was intense and the partisan Jet crowd was roaring with the action.  This seemed like a make or break moment of the game as the Ranger defenders could not even get a change.  The shots for the 3rd period showed total domination with the Jets having a 12-1 edge.

Jets to the left of me, Jets to the right of me.  The Jets unleashed a barrage of
shots early in the 3rd period.  The Rangers withstood the attack and
turned a rush into a power play opportunity that Callahan converted.

While Biron was unable to freeze the puck after making several eye-opening saves to keep the game tied, the Rangers came to his defense with sliding blocks and stick sweeps. I had hoped that some of the passing wouldn’t be along the boards too much, but it seemed like our passes were getting picked off a little too easily. However, the Rangers did not panic and maintained their positions in pretty good order despite being exhausted from the onslaught.

The Goal Scoring Trio.  Fedetenko fed Callahan
who deflected a shot off Bogosian for the game winning
goal. Why isn't Bogosian celebrating?

The defensive effort was commendable, but also scary when you realize for that amount of time, the Jets had so much control of the situation.  Incredibly, when the Rangers did take control of the puck, they made a strong rush to the Jets end where Fedetenko drew a penalty on a strong move toward the net.

From there, the winning goal was scored during the first minute of ensuing power play on what looked like a simple lateral pass just in front of the crease by Cally that bounced off of a Jet’s skate right into the net.

I’m of the belief that you really should just pepper the net with shots. Not all of them will go in, but there has to be at least one of them that does.  It was an interesting chance taken, that really worked out for the Rangers. As for the Jets, I’m pretty sure that has to be an deflating way to lose a game.

The Rangers, energized by the lead, simply locked down on the Jets with a great forechecking effort for the final 8 minutes of the contest.  During the final 3 minutes, the Rangers grounded the Jets as the Jets could not get out of their own zone thanks to the swarming Rangers.

The next game will be finally on home ice at the Garden against the Toronto Maple Leafs this Thursday. The pregame ceremonies should be interesting with a tribute to Derek Boogaard and the welcoming of Ryan Callahan as captain and the arrival of Brad Richards.

--- Cav