Thursday night at Madison Square Garden the Rangers spotted the Minnesota Wild a 2-0 lead and then roared back to secure an important come-from-behind 4-2 victory, their fourth in the past six games overall, and first in two games since returning from the All Star break.
Derick Brassard snapped a 2-2 tie by scoring his team-leading 18th goal at 5:46 of the third period, giving New York its first lead of the night. Ryan McDonagh helped create an offensive-zone turnover and J.T. Miller followed with a quick pass into the slot where a wide-open Brassard calmly beat Minnesota goalie Devyn Dubnyk.
“At first I thought he was going to poke check me because he’s a pretty big guy,” explained Brassard. “I had time to make a move on him and it worked out.”
Brassard, who also had an assist in the game, has recorded eight points (3-5-8) in his current three-game point-scoring streak. Miller and McDonagh also scored for New York and, like Brassard, notched a pair of points in Thursday’s win, as did Mats Zuccarello who picked up a pair of assists.
Chris Kreider scored into the empty net with 1:48 remaining in regulation to ice the victory for New York.
“That’s a huge test for us as a team where we’ve been lately, up and down with the wins, and to be down 2-0 at home in the first (period) then to pretty much hold them down to nothing after that is a good response,” stated Miller. “It was a good test of character for the group. That was Rangers hockey what you saw after we were down 2-0.”
Henrik Lundqvist made 16 saves to pick up the win, facing only 11 shots over the final two periods of play.
“We have been playing really well defensively, we don’t give up much, so I just have to be able to come up with that one or two extra saves when it matters,” said Lundqvist.
The Rangers and Minnesota began the third period tied 2-2 after playing two totally opposite periods–the first controlled by the Wild who raced to a two-goal lead, the second dominated by New York as the Blueshirts rallied to pull even.
The start of the game could not have gone much better for the visitors, nor much worse for the Rangers who were coming off Tuesday’s frustrating 3-2 loss in New Jersey. The Wild led 2-0 after just 7 minutes 57 seconds of play and recorded six of the game’s first seven shots on goal as the Blueshirts struggled mightily to find their collective footing.
Minnesota’s Ryan Carter opened the scoring at 2:09 of the first, beating Lundqvist on a clean breakaway after blocking a Marc Staal shot at the opposite blue line. Then with Staal in the penalty box for an interference minor, the Wild struck again as Matt Dumba drilled a one-timer short side past Lundqvist at the 7:57 mark of the opening period.
To the Rangers credit they regrouped after that second goal and proceeded to record six of the final seven shots in the period, spurred by a much more consistent fore check. They carried that momentum into the second period, one in which they outshot Minnesota in a stark turnaround, 17-4, and had the game tied before five minutes had elapsed.
“We came out in the second and played really well,” explained Lundqvist. “Even though we were down two, we had a good feeling in here that we could turn it around.”
A terrific second effort by McDonagh got New York on the board at 3:15 of the second. Mats Zuccarello found McDonagh in the slot, but McDonagh first had to win a pair of stick battles before zipping his seventh goal past Dubnyk and bringing The Garden crowd to its feet.
“We knew we had to step up and our captain brought us right back into the game,” stated Brassard. “From that moment on we played pretty well and we didn’t give them much.”
Eighty seconds later the red-hot Miller tied the score by netting his 16th goal of the season, and eighth in the past eight games. Stationed behind the Wild net Brassard saucered a pass towards the left circle where Miller one-timed it far side past Dubnyk, extending his goal-scoring streak to three consecutive games with his fourth goal in that span.
“He’s definitely got to be one of the hottest players around,” McDonagh said of Miller. “And it’s for good reason–he’s working extremely hard and he’s continuing to do that every night for us. It’s great to see him making an impact consistently here and setting an example, even as a young guy, of what we need to do up front.”
On the next shift Dubnyk robbed Oscar Lindberg from point-blank range while sprawled on the ice; and the Wild’s All Star netminder kept his badly-outplayed team in the game the remainder of the period with several other big saves.
The Rangers continued to throw a defensive blanket over the Wild once the third period started, and then grabbed their first lead of the night on Brassard’s goal at 5:46.
“There’s no doubt in my mind we took the game over and Brass’ line played really well, and McDonagh had another real strong game for us,” stated head coach Alain Vigneault. “We were doing the right things for us to win the game, and that’s what happened.”
Once again the Rangers played without the injured Rick Nash, who sat out his fourth consecutive game with a bad bone bruise in his left leg. He was joined on the sidelines by defenseman Kevin Klein who missed his first game with a fractured right thumb, though Klein was able to participate fully in the team’s morning skate on Thursday.
Dylan McIlrath played an effective game while replacing Klein in the lineup, credited with three hits, a blocked shot and a shot on goal over 11:42 of ice time. He was joined in the lineup by forward Jayson Megna, who was recalled from the Hartford Wolf Pack on Wednesday and took the spot of Tanner Glass who was a healthy scratch. Megna played only 9:12 but managed two shots on goal.
The Rangers hit the road for their next contest, an important divisional clash with the Flyers down in Philadelphia on Saturday afternoon.
Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com
(Reprinted With Permission of the New York Rangers)
