Rangers Vs. Wild Recap: Rangers Score Four Unanswered Goals To Defeat Wild 4-2

After a rather disappointing loss on Tuesday night against the New Jersey Devils, the New York Rangers responded tonight with a huge come from behind victory. The Rangers found themselves down by two goals early on in this game, but they strung together four unanswered goals to defeat the Minnesota Wild 4-2. Both J.T. Miller and Derick Brassard continued their dominance tonight and each registered a pair of points to fuel the Rangers comeback.

Aside from the opening ten minutes of the game, the Rangers played a very complete game tonight and dominated the Wild for the remainder of regulation. Due to the Rangers slow start, the Wild were able to take early advantage and grabbed a 1-0 lead just 2:09 into the game. Ryan Carter was able to get in front of Marc Staal's point shot, and went back the other way on a clear breakaway. With Staal way in the distance, Carter broke in on Henrik Lundqvist and popped a shot just under the crossbar.

Then a little over five minutes later, the Wild doubled up their lead with a power play goal coming from Matt Dumba. Dylan McIlrath wound up screening Henrik Lundqvist as he went down to block the shot, and Dumba was able to wire it past Lundqvist to make it a 2-0 game. At this point, things were looking looking extremely grim for the Rangers and it looked as if it was going to be another long evening.

However, the Rangers came out the first intermission absolutely flying and completely turned this game back in their favor. Ryan McDonagh capitalized on a beautiful pass from Mats Zuccarello at the 3:15 mark and pulled the Rangers back within a single goal. Then a little over a minute later, J.T. Miller bombed a shot past Devan Dubnyk and knotted this game up at 2-2.

Within a matter of minutes, the Rangers were able to grab the momentum back after a poor first period, and hopped right back in the driver seat. From that point on, the Rangers dominated the play at even strength and only allowed a single shot from a Wild forward through 40 minutes. The Rangers did an excellent job of shutting down shooting lanes, and made Henrik Lundqvist's job extremely easy for the most part.

Much like the second period, the Rangers got off to another quick start in the third period and they were immediately rewarded. Just 5:46 into the final frame, Derick Brassard converted off of a beautiful chip pass from J.T. Miller and gave the Rangers their first lead of the evening. With the way the Rangers were playing, it was only a matter of time before they broke through again, and it couldn't have come at a better time.

For the remainder of the game, the Rangers were able to keep the Wild in check and continued to push for an insurance marker. The Rangers finally found that opportunity late in the game with the goaltender pulled and Chris Kreider iced the game with an empty net goal. Following the closing goal, the Rangers were able to kill off the remainder of the clock and earned their 19th win of the season on home ice.

While tonight was certainly one to enjoy for the Rangers, they will have a big test coming up on Saturday afternoon against the Philadelphia Flyers. With the standings being as close as their are, the Rangers cannot afford to let anymore points slip away.