Rangers Rally in Third Period, Defeat Utah 5-3

Looking to bounce back from a tough overtime loss in Colorado on Tuesday, the Rangers played their first ever game at the Delta Center as they wrapped up their road trip with Utah HC. While it wouldn’t be the cleanest effort or the best start, the Rangers continued to claw their way back into this game and worked hard to hold onto their lead to pull off what’s become a rare come from behind win for them. 

1st Period: 

Another not great start for the Rangers but unlike in the game against the Avalanche, the start would cost them. Just 61 seconds into the game, a shot from Ian Cole at the point took a redirect off the stick of Barret Hayton in the slot. That redirect landed to the right side of Igor, right on the stick of Matias Maccelli to make it a 1-0 game. Bit of a weird bounce to create the chance but at the same time, there were three Rangers players caught right next to each other, behind Maccelli to watch the goal happen. 

Luckily it wouldn’t be long before the Rangers found a way to tie it. A fantastic pass from Alexis Lafrenière in the corner found Artemi Panarin who ripped a shot bar down to tie the game up 1-1. 

While it wasn’t a strong start for the Rangers, it was for Igor Shesterkin who was coming up with a number of saves to keep this thing even. Alas, it wouldn’t be long before Utah regained the lead and it was once again, Matias Maccelli. After a pair of saves from Shesterkin, Maccelli finally got one past him with Hayton picking up the primary assist once again. Another situation where the Rangers defensive zone breakdowns create problems for them on the scoreboard, 2-1. 

Maccelli’s second goal highlighted one of the more brutal stretches of the period for the Rangers where they really weren’t generating much, struggled defensively and were being outplayed. The perfect time for the Utah HC to pay tribute to Sam Rosen in his first and barring a truly unlikely Stanley Cup Final this year, last trip to Salt Lake City calling a game for the Rangers. Man, it still doesn’t feel real that this is the end for the legendary broadcaster. 

With about three and a half to go, a shot from Filip Chytil on the left wing side of a face-off circle in Utah’s zone, snuck through traffic and eventually, Karel Vejmelka. With the loose puck sitting in the crease, Arthur Kaliyev was right there to put it home for his first goal as a New York Ranger, 2-2 game. 

It was almost a penalty free period until Arthur Kaliyev got the stick up high on Michael Carcone with 37 seconds to go in the period. Not an ideal time for a stick infraction but the Rangers were able to hold them off, keeping it a tied game going into the first intermission of the night. Shots after the opening twenty were 16-8 in favor of Utah who would start the second with about a minute and a half of power play time. 

2nd Period:

The Hockey Club was moving the puck well once they settled back into the Rangers zone and once again, they weren’t able to establish a strong defensive zone presence. With just about thirty seconds to go on the man advantage, a tic-tac-toe passing play found a wide open Logan Cooley on the far side to fire a shot through Shesterkin to regain the lead once again, 3-2. 

Things weren’t getting any better as the Rangers would be short handed again just about three minutes later. Once again, the puck was stuck in the Rangers end of the ice and Reilly Smith whacked Nick Bjugstad with the stick to earn two minutes for slashing. As the Rangers were able to kill this one off completely, it would become their turn on the power play as Mikhail Sergachev was called for interference shortly after the team’s returned to even strength. 

Just over 45 seconds into the power play, Alex Kerfoot sent the puck over the glass in an attempt to clear the puck which turned the man advantage into a 5-on-3. The Rangers only change to their special teams group as the advantage extended would be taking Trocheck off in place of Kreider. They completely dominated possession for the majority of the advantage but would come up short handed with just one shot on goal to show for. 

Nearing the midway point of play, as Peter Baugh mentioned in the tweet below, this game was really feeling like a big step in the wrong direction. They gave up the lead three times, continuing to trail as a result. Couldn’t capitalize on a 5-on-3 advantage, were having an awful time defending against a team that isn’t overly strong offensively and still passing up shot attempts to make unnecessary, overly complicated passes. 

In a span of a couple of minutes, there were what felt like 95 play stoppages which really made the back half of the second period feel dreadfully uneventful. This didn’t help the Rangers case of making this a game that felt winnable. After close to seven minutes without a shot on goal, K’Andre Miller let a one timer go to remind Vejmelka what stopping a puck felt like. That just about did it for the period as the Rangers now trailed by one with twenty minutes left to turn things around.

3rd Period:

A late penalty called on Lafrenière put the Rangers at another disadvantage to start the period. They needed another big kill to stay in this one and sure enough, picked up a short handed goal in the process. A shot from Reilly Smith meant to use the defender as a screen, deflected off the stick on its way to the net to find the back of the net making it a 3-3 game. 

The early goal in the third kicked off a bit of a turn of pace to the period as the Rangers started to show more spurts of energy. With about 12 minutes to go in the game, they headed back to the power play as Jusso Valimaki was called for tripping. Same story as they looked semi-impressive throughout the two minutes advantage but couldn’t convert. 

However, soon after the team’s returned to even strength, Chris Kreider picked up the puck off a face-off won by Sam Carrick. Worth noting here that for whatever reason, Matt Rempe’s night seemingly ended as anybody but him was taking shifts on that fourth line. At any rate, it was another deflected shot, this time from Kreider that beat Vejmelka to give the Rangers their first lead of the night, 4-3. Oh, and that’s a four game point streak from Sam Carrick. 

From that point on, the lone objective was for the Rangers to hold onto their lead and for the next couple of minutes, they were doing a solid job of that. With about two minutes to go, Utah pulled Vejmelka for the extra attacker and Igor immediately had his best chance, possibly of his career, to score a goal, sending a shot just wide of the empty net. 

Sam Carrick would have a chance just as close as Shesterkin’s with the empty net with 53 seconds to go but again, sent it just wide for another icing. Finally, off the next face-off, Carrick was able to chip it ahead out of the zone to Panarin who skated it in for the empty netter to make it a 5-3 game. The Rangers would wrap up their road trip with five of six possible points which was about as close to a perfect outcome as you could hope for. 

Not a complete outing but they battled through and found a way to win just like old times. They’ll return home to host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday for a massive Divisional Match-up.