Recap: NYR Back on Track With Exuberant Win Over LA 

Following a disappointing showing in Washington last night, the Rangers were right back at it to take on the Los Angeles Kings for the first time this season. It wouldn’t be the only first tonight as Jonathan Quick would get the start against the team he spent all but the end of last season with throughout his career for the very first time. It would also be the first time the Rangers wore their new third jerseys that were officially announced a couple weeks ago. The Kings were coming into the second half of a back to back just as the Rangers were having lost to the Islanders last night on Long Island. The only change to the lineup for the Rangers aside from goaltending would be Barclay Goodrow returning in place of Riley Nash on the fourth line.

1st Period:

The Rangers started the game with their fourth line and had a much better start than they did the night before in Washington. Through the first half of the opening period, the Rangers were moving the puck well, maintaining much better possession than they had at any point the night prior and seemed to have more of an identity to their play.

About eight minutes in, the Rangers got the first penalty of the night as Artemiy Panarin caught Vladislav Gavrikov up high on the follow through of a quick turnaround shot. A bit of a questionable call as the rulebook allows players some leeway on high sticking when it comes to winding up and following through on shots. Nevertheless, the Rangers went to the penalty kill and had a strong showing, keeping the Kings to just one shot on goal throughout the man advantage.

Just as Joe Micheletti was saying on the broadcast that he would like to see the Rangers shoot the puck more frequently, Ryan Lindgren dumped the puck into the zone which took a crazy bounce off the boards. With Pheonix Copley already headed behind the net to play the puck, the redirect resulted in the puck ending up right in front of the wide open net. The Kings would be able to settle it down but a pretty great example of why there’s no such thing as a bad shot on goal.

Towards the end of the first, Kings forward Philip Danualt would take a dump in attempt from the Rangers to the face, very similar to what happened to Barclay Goodrow in Ottawa earlier in the week. He would require some medical attention as he skated off the ice with the Kings Medical Trainer leaving some blood behind on the ice.

The Rangers ended the period with a great chance as Adam Fox got the second line started with a great breakout attempt that resulted in a beautiful passing play with Vincent Trocheck eventually getting the shot off. Trevor Moore would take a penalty on the play as he got his stick caught up with Adam Fox which gave the Rangers their first power play attempt of the night.

With only 22 seconds left in the period, the Rangers wouldn’t get anything going but would have the advantage going into the second period. A rather quiet start in this one as the score remained locked at zero with the Kings outshooting the Rangers 9-4. The shots on goal tally wouldn’t be a completely accurate representation of how the game has gone up to this point as the Rangers had a much better showing and maintained a good amount of the possession.

2nd Period:

The Kings would begin the second period quite short handed as they would be without both Philip Danault and Vladislav Gavrikov who had left their game on Long Island last night a bit banged up with a lower-body situation. Danault would end up returning later in the period but Gavrikov would not return for the rest of the night. Play picked up to start the second just as it left off in the first with both teams playing rather conservatively, more of a defensive heavy showing up to this point. The Rangers wouldn’t convert on the leftover power play from the first as both teams eased into period two.

Things really picked up as we neared the midway point of the game as Kevin Fiala let a shot go that ended up on the stick of Trevor Moore in front of the net. Jacob Trouba made a strong defensive play with the stick before absolutely rocking Moore with a massive hit. The Rangers went the other way with the puck and K’Andre Miller got a shot off for a strong scoring chance as play went back and forth. The Rangers ended up drawing a penalty and maintained great possession until the Kings touched the puck which sent Drew Doughty off for slashing.

As the top power play unit got things going, the Rangers finally capitalized as Panarin fed a pass over to Trocheck who sent it back over to Mika Zibanejad who let a one timer go from his office to put the Rangers up 1-0.

The Kings had a great chance to tie the game up as Alex Laferreire fed Carl Grundstrom with a cross pass that prompted a strong sliding save from Jonathan Quick to keep his old team off the board. This would go down as one of only two shots on goal for the Kings as the Rangers played an incredibly strong period, both offensively and defensively.

The Rangers headed back to the power play with just over five minutes remaining in the second period as Adrian Kempe slashed the stick out of the hands of Tyler Pitlick in the neutral zone. Another strong power play attempt for the Blueshirts resulted in the entire two minute advantage spent in the Kings’ zone, however the puck wouldn’t find the back of the net.

With two and a half minutes to go, a beautiful jumping effort from Nick Bonino kept the puck in the Kings’ zone and gave Jimmy Vesey a partial breakaway. Vesey cut to his backhand and snuck the puck through Copley’s five hole to extend the Rangers lead to 2-0.

The Rangers would again go to the power play towards the end of the period as Mikey Anderson wrapped his arms around Artemiy Panarin to earn a holding call. This time around, the Rangers had just over a minute to get something going before the period ended but again, wouldn’t be able to convert as time had run out. A great period for the Rangers as they outshot the Kings 11-2 and had a great hold on the pace of the game through 40 minutes of play.

3rd Period:

Again, the Rangers wouldn’t be able to get their power play going on the carryover time from the power play at the end of the second. Jonathan Quick would be tested early on as he came up with a big glove save and then made a pair of really good saves off a couple rebounds from a shot from up high in the slot. The Kings would get another chance at the power play as Adam Fox would be sent off for tripping.

Just as the Kings’ power play was coming to an end, Arthur Kaliev let a shot go just as one of the officials blew the whistle. The shot beat Quick but would be waved off as Pierre-Luc Dubois was assigned a penalty for a hit on Quick in front of the Rangers net. Dubois also cross-checked Ryan Lindgren from behind which prompted the refs to give him an embellishment penalty. On top of that, Mika Zibanejad was given a ten misconduct penalty for rather unclear reasons.

Things wouldn’t stop there.

Vincent Trocheck was then given a penalty for

Quinton Byfield then made contact with Jonathan Quick which prompted Quick to go after him, creating a scrum in front of the net. The officials gave Byfield and Quick minor penalties and Kevin Fiala a ten minute misconduct of his own, again for unclear reasons.

The Kings still had a power play and would end up capitalizing as Adrian Kempe fed Philip Danualt with a nice pass at the doorstep to spoil Quick’s shutout and bring LA within one with lots of time left.

Another scrum ensued after an additional big save from Jonathan Quick. Adrian Kempe and Alexis Lafrenière were the two mainly going at it with each of them earning two minute roughing calls. Kempe however, got an additional two minutes for flipping the helmet off of Lafrenière as the scrum was settling down. At least there weren’t any misconducts there.

With the Rangers back to the power play and Zibanejad still in the box for his misconduct, Jonny Brodzinski took his place on the power play. A smart decision by the Rangers coaching staff as Brodzinski is a righty with a great shot which made for a solid substitution for Mika’s role on the top power play. Sure enough, Brodzinski flirted around Mika’s office and once he saw his ice, skated in towards the slot which allowed Trocheck to find him for a clean pass that Brodzinski fired into the back of the net.

What an incredible shot from Brodzinski for his first of the season and quite the story with it. Brodzinski was originally a LA Kings draft pick back in 2013 and has certainly been a journeyman ever since. After bouncing around a bit and eventually establishing himself in Hartford, Brodzinski earned an extension and now at 30 years old, has six points in seven games with the Rangers.

Jonathan Quick continued to be stellar as he came up with a flashy glove save on Carl Grundstrom soon after but it wouldn’t be long before the Rangers got back on the scoreboard. With under five minutes to go, Jonny Brodzinski again let a good shot go that Trocheck was able to tap the rebound over to Will Cuylle who tucked the puck in on the doorstep to make it a 4-1 game. That’s Trocheck’s third primary assist on the night.

The Rangers held onto their lead and would skate away with a 4-1 over the Kings. This would be LA’s first regulation road loss of the season as the Rangers strong second period propelled them to an explosive third period. Final tally on shots on goal 27-26 in favor of New York as they went 2-for-5 on the power play and won 63% of face-offs. It was a bit of a boring start to this one but the Rangers played a strong all around game and came up with an exciting finish to take home a much needed win.