Recap: An Unlikely Hero, Sam Carrick With the OT Winner in 3–2 Win Against the Devils

Third of four meetings between these Hudson River Rivals as the Rangers hosted the New Jersey Devils for the third time in a span of five weeks. With the last two meetings not going good for the Rangers at all, they looked to turn things around with some reinforcements. Not only was Igor Shesterkin back in net after missing the last few games with injury, but Arthur Kaliyev was in the lineup for his NYR debut as was Matt Rempe fresh off his 8-game suspension. 

1st Period: 

Artemi Panarin had a golden chance to start the game as Brett Pesce blew a tire at the point that created an odd-man rush opportunity. After a back and forth with Vincent Trocheck, Panarin couldn’t get as much as he wanted to on the shot which didn’t even end up as a shot on goal. Matt Rempe’s first shift back from his eight-game suspension was met with cheers as there was good pace flowing at the Garden. 

However, the tide took a slight turn nearing six minutes in as Luke Hughes walked around the point and let a shot go through traffic that resulted in some confusion. Both with the officials but especially Sam Rosen as it was unclear if the puck went in or if it had quickly gone off a post. Upon review, the puck did indeed hit the crossbar  which kept things locked at zero. Of course on the following shift, Adam Fox took a penalty for high sticking which put the Rangers at the first disadvantage of the evening.

The Rangers were successful in killing off the penalty but it wasn’t long before they were down a man all over again. In the midst of a stoppage of play as Sam and Joe were talking about the puck Mika Zibanejad took up high while shorthanded, the Rangers were called for a too-many men on the ice penalty. Despite the infuriating bench minor, the Rangers were able to kill off a second penalty which was absolutely huge. 

Two successful kills later the Rangers finally caught a break as Kurtis MacDermid took a stupid interference penalty giving them their first power play of the night. It took all of four seconds for the Rangers to convert as Adam Fox let a rocket of a slap shot go from the point that deflected off of and shattered the stick of Jonathan Kovacevic on its way to the back of the net. Adam Fox’s second goal of the season, first on an actual goaltender, 1-0 Rangers. 

Turns out good things happen when you shoot the puck, who knew!

Things settled back down from there as Fox’s goal would stand as the only one of the period. One of the better starts for the Rangers who looked good in the early parts of the first but still ended up being out-shot by the Devils 11-8. Only two high danger chances of the period with both belonging to the Devils who also led in expected goals for. On the bright side, the Rangers were limiting the Devils chances off the rush and blocking a ton of shots. 

2nd Period:

The Rangers had another big chance to open the period as Reilly Smith stopped hard and found Will Cuylle wide open all alone heading towards the slot. A great look however, his shot went just wide of the net. About four minutes in, Igor Shesterkin went to play the puck behind the net but ended up turning it over to Ondrej Palat on the half wall. Brett Pesce then let a shot go from the point that Jack Hughes was able to redirect past Shesterkin to tie the game up 1-1. Five games for Hughes now in just three meetings with the Rangers this season. 

Unable to really generate much after that goal, Will Cuylle took a big hit from Dougie Hamilton which preceded a long outlet pass to Jesper Bratt about five minutes later. Bratt was able to cleanly beat Shesterkin with a quick shot off the rush to make it a 2-1 game. To make matters worse, the Rangers were going to be short handed again on the following shift as Alexis Lafrenière was called for high sticking that was sort of embellished by Timo Meier. 

On as good of a shorthanded chance as you could ask for, Smith had a long breakaway with Trocheck right behind him. Smith of course pulled off a beautiful move but instead of shooting it, dropped it back to Trocheck who shot it right over the net… SHOOT THE PUCK. The Rangers would kill the penalty but it was hard to feel good about it after wasting away a scoring chance as good as they had. 

With roughly four and a half to go in the second, the Rangers were sent back to the power play as Nico Hischier was called for slashing. It wouldn’t come as quickly as it did the first time around but after a lengthy attack from the top unit, a shot  from Zibanejad created a rebound chance that Panarin capitalized on to tie the game up, 2-2.

Despite it feeling like a significantly worse period for the Rangers, they out-shot the Devils 9-5 throughout the second period, now for a total of 17-16. Special teams, which has been one of the biggest challenges for the Rangers as of late, was working in their favor tonight as they were 2-for-2 on the power play and 3-for-3 on the penalty kill. That was the difference maker through forty minutes as the game was tied at two apiece. 

3rd Period:

After a good two or three minutes of the Rangers being completely unable to get the puck out of their own zone, they finally began to show some life in the offensive zone. A flurry of quality chances from the Zibanejad line was shut down by Jacob Markstrom but a good turn of pace from the Rangers. They continued to see opportunities as they out-shot the Devils 8-0 through the first eight minutes of the period. 

Following an offensive zone face-off just after the midway point of the third, Panarin was tripped along the boards by Nathan Bastian to give the Rangers a huge power play opportunity. Zibanejad nearly cost his team as he gave up an easy breakaway to Dawson Mercer that required a big save from Shesterkin. Zibanejad definitely owes him dinner after that one. As if that wasn’t bad enough, Zibanejad put an early end to the man advantage as he was called for an extremely weak slashing call, bringing play to a minute of 4-on-4. 

The Rangers had another odd-man rush on the 4-on-4 with both Sam Carrick and Will Cuylle going hard to the net. Markstrom and his teammates took exception to that as they went after the Rangers forwards in a brief scrum in front of the net. The Devils had a brief power play once the penalty to Bastian expired and made a strong push in the process but Shesterkin stood tall to keep things tied as the team’s returned to full strength. 

The final five minutes of regulation would be action packed but resulted in no goals as the Rangers would head to overtime for the second consecutive night. Finally shots on goal tally through regulation would be 30-22 in favor of the Rangers. Easily one of their better defensive games in quite some time. 

Overtime:

Interestingly enough the Rangers started the 3-on-3 overtime with Trocheck and Lafrenière instead of the expected Panarin on the wing. On top of that, they opted to start K’Andre Miller on defense over Adam Fox. Perhaps that was intentional to match up separate from Jack Hughes’ lime but nevertheless, Panarin and Zibanejad had two big chances to end the game that were met with even bigger saves from Markstrom. 

It would be an unlikely hero in this one. With Filip Chytil and Chris Kreider both out with injury, Sam Carrick ended up as the center on the ice for the third 3-on-3 line combo with Reilly Smith. The two ended up on another odd man rush and the feed from Smith allowed for a one timer from Carrick that surprised everyone, including Markstrom to secure the extra point. 

What a moment for Carrick. Overall, a much better, complete effort who not only needed a bounce back win after losing in overtime to Dallas on Tuesday, but to finally get a win against this Devils team that has embarrassed them across two outings already this season. The Rangers will look to build off their efforts over the weekend as they set out on a three game road trip back on the West Coast. That will kick off in Vegas as they take on the Golden Knights for a 10pm EST puck drop.