Recap: Rangers Pull Off Tenacious Come-From-Behind Win In Nashville
The Rangers kicked off a pair of back-to-back’s with a trip to Tennessee to take on the Nashville Predators. The Rangers up to this point in the season have only lost five games through their first 21, however one of them came in an early loss at home to the Predators. The Rangers came off a pair of days without a game following their 3-2 win against Detroit. The Preds were looking to get back on track after a brutal 6-1 loss to Minnesota on Thursday.
1st Period:
The Rangers had a real tough start in this one as it wasn’t long before they found themselves trailing. Phil Tomasino moved the puck ahead to Liam Foudy who fed it over to Ryan O’Reilly who had a clear shot all on his own on the right side of Igor. O’Reilly let a quick shot go that bounced off the blocker of Shesterkin and in to give the Predators a 1-0 lead just over six minutes into play.
In five career games against Igor Shesterkin, Ryan O’Reilly has scored a total of five goals.
As play went on, the Rangers were getting outplayed more and more. Nashville was forcing turnovers, outshooting the Blueshirts and taking control of things early on. With about six minutes left to go in the period, Barclay Goodrow was called for a pretty lazy tripping call on Nashville defenseman Spencer Stastney. As the Predators took to their first power play of the night, they continued to out work the Rangers and were eventually rewarded for their efforts. After a couple shot attempts from outside, Roman Josi was able to cut towards the slot and let a shot go that beat Shesterkin to extend their lead, 2-0.
Despite the two goals, Shesterkin was doing all he could to keep his team in it, coming up with his fair share of saves. The Rangers weren’t able to get much going, showing little to no energy out the gate. At the end of the first twenty, the Rangers were down by two with Nashville outshooting them 17-8. The Rangers continued to find success in the faceoff circle but outside of that, were largely outplayed with the Predators getting more high danger chances with a higher expected goals for
2nd Period:
What do you look for when your team has arguably one of its worst periods of the season? A quick response. And who do you look to in order to get things going? Your leaders. Off a nice feed from Vincent Trocheck, Rangers Captain Jacob Trouba buried the pass right at the doorstep to bring the Rangers within one. The goal came as Trouba’s second of the season, his first since his empty netter on opening night. Jonny Brodzinski also picked up his first point of the season with the secondary assist on the play.
Peter Laviolette took to shaking up the lines to start the second, going with a line of Kreider-Trocheck-Brodzinski to start the period. As a result, Lafrenière and Panarin moved to the sides of Mika Zibanejad, Vesey with Goodrow and Wheeler, Cuylle with Bonino and Pitlick. The Preds got a second crack at the power play with Ryan Lindgren getting sent off for hooking about two minutes after the Trouba goal. The Rangers penalty killers had a better look the second time around as they were able to hold Nasvhille off, at least for man advantage.
Close to seven minutes into the period, Nashville was caught with too-many men on the ice which sent Luke Evangelista to the box and the Rangers to the power play. The man advantage opportunity did more harm than good for the Blueshirts as Colton Sissons picked up on a breakaway to beat Shesterkin short side, extending Nashville’s lead to 3-1.
Again, when things go wrong, you look to your leaders. Chris Kreider brought the Rangers back within one just over a minute after Sissons extended Nashville’s lead. A shot from Adam Fox at the point took a redirect off the stick of Vincent Trocheck. Chris Kreider then batted at the rebound and then hit it again for a second time out of mid air to send it to the back of the net, making it a 3-2 game.
On that next shift, Nick Bonino took a rough hit from Juuso Parssinen which sent the Rangers back to the power play. Right off the face-off the Rangers top power play unit got to work and a shot from Mika Zibanejad redirected off Vincent Trocheck to beat Kevin Lankinen and tie the game up at three.
Nashville got a third chance on the power play with about six minutes left in the second as Ryan Lindgren caught Kiefer Sherwood with a high stick. The Rangers had a much better second period as did their penalty kill, keeping the score tied at three. Through two periods, Nashville still had the upper hand in shots, 26-18 with the Rangers still holding it down in face-offs with a 62% success rate.
3rd Period:
The Rangers were quick to go back to the penalty kill as Will Cuylle was called for high sticking Michael McCarron. After another successful kill from the Rangers, play continued to go back and forth with the Rangers finding their way to their first lead of the night. A great effort in front of the net from Vincent Trocheck created some traffic for a shot from Ryan Lindgren to find its way through, making it a 4-3 game in favor of the Rangers.
The goal came as Ryan Lindgren’s first of the season with Trocheck picking up his third point of the night. Adam Fox had the primary assist on the Lindgren goal which came as his third assist in a row on the night. This also became Fox’s tenth career three assist game, putting him in elite company for defensemen with ten three assist performances in team history, joining Brian Leetch, Brad Park, James Patrick and Bill Gadsby.
The pace would truly skyrocket through the remainder of third period as both teams were playing with a great deal of tenacity. Igor Shesterkin continued coming up with big time saves to help the Rangers hold onto the lead as Nashville came real close to tying things back up on a scramble on the side of the net. Jonny Brodzinski made a desperate attempt to keep the puck out of the net as Shesterkin was sprawled out along the crease.
Nashville pulled Lankinen for the extra attacker in an attempt to tie the game back up which required one last strong defensive effort from the Blueshirts. K’Andre Miller came real close to scoring on the empty net but ended up icing the puck with just over six seconds left. The Rangers took one last face-off to hold off the Preds and leave Nashville with a pair of points. It was far from a good start as the Rangers had one of their worst periods of the season but after a spark from the new lines, the team fought back to pull off an incredible come from behind win.
Final tally on shots on goal were 39-27 in favor of Nashville. The Rangers went 1 for 2 on the power play and killed off all but one Nashville man advantage. A truly admirable effort from this Rangers team as they pick up their second win in a row after bouncing back from their loss to Buffalo. The Rangers will head back home to host the Sharks tomorrow night as they’ll look to get off to a better start and build off the momentum from a terrific come from behind win.
