Rangers, badly outshot, find way to beat Vancouver Canucks
Rangers defenseman Adam Fox celebrates his goal against the Vancouver Canucks with teammates during the second period at Madison Square Garden on Saturday. Credit: Brad Penner
The later it gets in the season, as the games get bigger and bigger and the Rangers’ game seemingly gets smaller and smaller, the urge to write off their chances of making the playoffs grows with each goal against.
But then they have a game like Saturday afternoon. On a day when they honored retiring TV play-by-play man Sam Rosen, they pulled a rabbit out of a hat and came away with a win they might not have deserved but one that keeps them alive for another day.
The Rangers were outplayed and largely embarrassed for two periods at the Garden by the Vancouver Canucks, but Igor Shesterkin kept them in it with 36 saves and they got two third-period goals by Jonny Brodzinski and four goals in the final 20 minutes. Their 5-3 victory prevented them from being swept on a four-game homestand and sent them off on their three-game California trip still alive in the hunt for a playoff spot.
“As dirty as that win was, I think you take them where you can get them,’’ said defenseman K’Andre Miller, whose goal gave the Rangers a 3-2 lead with 7:20 remaining in the third period.
“They probably outplayed us for most of the game today, but we stuck with it,’’ said former Canuck J.T. Miller, whose empty-net goal sealed it. “We’ll take the points this time of year, though.’’
The Rangers (34-31-6) are one point ahead of the Islanders and one point behind Montreal, which holds the second wild card in the Eastern Conference. The Canadiens, who have played two fewer games than the Rangers, lost to Colorado, 5-4, in a shootout on Saturday night.
The Rangers were outshot 11-1 in the first period and fell behind 1-0 on a goal by Dakota Joshua at 11:51. Adam Fox’s goal at 11:03 of the second period — he tipped in a shot by Braden Schneider — left the score tied at 1-1 after two periods even though the Rangers had been outshot 24-6 (they ultimately were outshot 39-12).
“We can’t start a game like that, can’t start a period like that,’’ coach Peter Laviolette said. “They were just quicker than us. They had the puck on their stick and we were chasing them. [After] moving lines around the second period a little bit, I thought it got a little bit better in the second, and then . . . third period, I thought we came up playing better, attacking more.’’
Brodzinski’s first goal, at 1:39 of the third, gave the Rangers their first lead, but Drew O’Connor tied it with his goal at 11:22. K’Andre Miller’s goal — an attempted pass for Vincent Trocheck that was off the mark and deflected in off the skate of Vancouver’s Quinn Hughes — put the Rangers ahead 3-2 at 12:40.
Brock Boeser beat K’Andre Miller in a battle on the back boards and came out from behind the goal to tie it at 3-3 with 4:50 remaining, but 37 seconds later, Brodzinski took a pass from Alexis Lafreniere and beat Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen to put the Rangers ahead to stay.
“We need points right now, and we’re still in this run,’’ Brodzinski said. “After those first two periods, [there was a] little bit of yelling in the locker room. I think we figured it out as a team. We’ve just got to stop turning pucks over and shooting ourselves in the foot. So after that. the puck started finding a way to go in the net.’’
Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.
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