Recap: Rangers Fly Past Ducks, Win 5-1

After Tuesday’s night game that left fans wanting more from the Blueshirts, the end of the week’s schedule seemed to loom over the team. A lot went wrong earlier in the week against the Maple Leafs, beating the Ducks suddenly felt much more important. The team has been on a tear this season, but as of late have hit that proverbial wall and are now struggling with some inconsistent play. Thankfully tonight they not only won, but in the grand scheme of things Rangers fans bore witness to something so much more meaningful.

1st Period

For a brief moment, this one felt a bit scary. Anaheim came out flying and not looking like the team that had lost their last four games. In fact the Ducks struck first with Brett Leason surprising Quick with a wrist shot from far out and through two players. Quick definitely wanted that one back, but as the game went on it was Quick who had to hold the Rangers in this one, but then destiny showed its hand.

With less than three minutes left in the first period, Wheeler was embroiled in a puck battle in the offensive zone. He was able to pull the puck out to Zibanejad who cut toward the net, and with a fortuitous bounce the puck landed on Kreider’s stick who immediately fired the puck past Dostal and into the net. This was Kreider’s 280th goal and 500th point in the NHL, he was now tied with Adam Graves for third in goals scored in New York Rangers history. Kreider’s goal march continues as he keeps climbing the rankings into Rangers royalty.

2nd Period

Less than a minute into the second period and it became apparent the tone of the game was changing. Anaheim took four straight minor penalties, giving the Rangers multiple opportunities to take the lead and control the game. Ironically, the Rangers missed on their first few power plays, but it didn’t prevent them from getting another one on the board and once again the play started with Kreider. Approaching the offensive zone he suddenly pulled up and sent the puck to the other side of the ice where the Rangers were able to get the puck in deep with little pressure. Wheeler won another puck battle on the boards, this time getting the puck to Fox who hit Vesey with a perfect pass, call that a Harvard education, and Vesey put the puck in the top corner of the net.

It wasn’t much longer until the Rangers got another power play opportunity. Trocheck won the puck back to the point with Zibanejad’s help, the Rangers cycled the puck around as they got set. Panarin ended up with the puck at the point and sent a hard pass directly at Kreider who was set up perfectly in his shop and deftly deflected the puck past Dostal for his 281st goal, taking sole control of third overall in goals scored for the original six franchise.

Let’s have a quick discussion on Christopher James Kreider. Hopefully you all saw the intermission interview where Zibanejad couldn’t even explain how meaningful to the team Kreider is, but just a few years ago, frustration and uncertainty surrounded the Rangers home grown winger.

There were a lot of fans who didn’t want the Rangers to commit to any type of contract extension. For someone with the tool set to dominate, he never really took flight. While a career best of 28 goals would define a productive player, for someone of Kreider’s ilk it always seemed to not be good enough. That’s the tough part about professional sports, you can play and score well, but often times depending on your background the expectations before you may always be a bit too high, so anything other than excellence is seen as underwhelming. The main question at the time was had we seen Kreider’s best? Kreider had his answer for us in the form of a 52 goal season that had us all watching closely, secretly or loudly hoping he would pass Jagr and take the record for most goals scored in a regular season. Kreider hasn’t looked back since, scoring at a higher clip as he added the role of power play specialist to his resume.

We’re watching history unfold as he chases the all-time goals record with the club. A few years ago any suggestion of Kreider’s number being retired to the rafters one day was not taken seriously. He’s slowly erased that doubt and has now almost turned it into an absolute certainty. Agree or not, Kreider’s pursuit of the all-time goals record puts him right there with most of the Rangers legends. Critics like to point at his lack of a cup, but let’s be honest with ourselves here, that is not and will not stop Kreider and maybe that one negative fact could change. Regardless, he’s in the midst of a long and successful career, hopefully as a lifetime Ranger, how can you justify denying that honor to a player who will at the end have a solid hold on second place all time, if not first place, ultimately passing the great Rod Gilbert. Blasphemy to some, I know, but Kreider has the potential to be our top scorer of all-time, start preparing yourself for the moment now if it rubs you the wrong way.

3rd Period

The Rangers weren’t looking back in this one as the game continued to get chippier and dirtier. For the most part the Blueshirts refrained from dirty play or retaliating in full, but in a serquence of plays that saw Gudas swing his stick at Goodrow, Gudas was left with a misconduct and the Rangers with a power play. The team wasted little time and set up shop, Panarin put the puck right in Zibanejad’s wheelhouse at the top of the circle and Dostal never stood a chance.

The Rangers carried the puck into the offensive zone as the game wound down. Goodrow skated into open ice on the left-hand side and slid the puck into the slot to the towering Adam Edström, who was playing in his first NHL game. Edström put the puck on net, but his shot was slightly affected by the Anaheim defender, but this time that didn’t matter as the puck flew past Dostal giving Edström his first-ever NHL goal and the Rangers won the game 5-1 on a feel-good moment.

The team travels to Boston tomorrow to take on the Bruins who have also cooled off after their hot start. However both teams still sit second and third in the NHL right now as Boston is powered by their solid goaltending, David Pastrnak, and Brad Marchand, they’ll be a much tougher test than the Anaheim Ducks were tonight.