While New York City faces the blizzard, so do the Rangers.
On the same night that the Weapons Team had to address the decision to break up with the team’s second highest defender, Tony DeAngelo, the highest paid Rangers got their third win of the season behind a third goal. Chris Kreider’s period to defeat the Penguins 3-1 Monday night at Madison Square Garden.
The Rangers have only scored two goals in the third period and have not scored in the last five games heading into Monday’s game. Kreider broke that series at 11:10 of the final frame with a redirect of an unexpected shot from Adam Fox at the top of the area.
Artemi Panarin won an insurance account with a second to the left, in addition to two decisive passes, to complete a three-point performance. While Rangers goalkeeper Igor Shesterkin won his second victory of the season, giving up 25 of the 26 shots he faced, including nine saves in the last 20 minutes to ensure victory.
General manager Jeff Gorton said before the game that the team needs to focus on winning, and the Rangers came out and showed through a team of penguins that they lost in the previous three games against them.
“I can’t say how proud I am of our team,” head coach David Quinn said after the victory. “It was 24, 36 very difficult hours and the way we play together.”
In addition to DeAngelo’s absence, the Rangers lost Kaapo Kakko to the COVID-19 protocol list and remembered AHL Hartford’s Jonny Brodzinski for his first game in the Rangers uniform. Anthony Bitetto, who had been with the team’s taxi crew to start the season, replaced DeAngelo for his Rangers debut as well.
To add extra pressure to the Rangers’ already exhausted group, defender Brendan Smith collided with Brandon Tanev at 17:12 and went straight to the locker room, where he was left with an upper body injury.
The rangers had to roll with five defenders for the rest of the night.
Whether it was the lack of collective experience of the range or the extraordinary strength of the penguins that managed the puck, the Rangers took a lot of penalties throughout the game. Both the second and the third penalty period began as a result of the offenses of the last two minutes of each frame.
Julian Gauthier, who had not played against the Devils since January 19, was called up for a few minutes after the Rangers took the lead 2-1 to force them to compete briefly for the sixth time in the game. However, the Rangers Punishment Killing Unit was their strongest component and avoided all six Penguin Man advantage opportunities.
The Rangers had one of the most competitive periods of the third period so far this season, blocking seven shots and refusing to give the Penguins any time or space.
“The way we played the third period was very good for us, just going forward and understanding that we can win these games,” Fox said. “We have to play a certain way in doing this.”
The Penguins came out of the first period with the lead for the third time in the last four games against the Rangers. Jason Zucker quickly pulled the puck off the boards and caught Shesterkin out of the box, filling it for the 1-0 lead at 9:05.
But the Rangers capitalized on a late Penguins penalty with an additional ice skate later in the second, with Kevin Rooney scoring his second goal in as many games to tie it.
“Listen, I know what our record is, we felt pretty good about a lot of things we did this year – I know it may sound crazy, but we really do,” Quinn said. “We just have to keep going and keep building. We have five of our last six points and we are spinning. ”