Saturday afternoon in Dallas the Rangers closed out a difficult, yet ultimately successful, road trip with a 3-2 victory over the Western Conference-leading Stars. The win came on the heels of Thursday’s 2-1 victory over the Blues in St. Louis and made New York a winner in four of its last five games overall.
Henrik Lundqvist again was a difference maker in the nets for the Rangers, finishing with 36 saves. It was the eighth time in his last ten starts where Lundqvist held the opposition to two goals or fewer.
“The whole game was just a big battle,” stated Lundqvist. “It was a great game. Two teams playing physical, a lot of energy, the building was going, too. Obviously the way we finished, it’s a really good feeling.”
Ryan McDonagh snapped a 1-1 tie and provided the Rangers their second lead of the afternoon by scoring his eighth goal at 8:26 of the third period. With Dallas goalie Kari Lehtonen out of position and scrambling to find his positioning after making a save on an Oscar Lindberg shot, McDonagh collected the loose puck and whipped a backhand shot from right wing off of Lehtonen and over the goal line to put the Rangers back in the lead.
“I took a look, saw that he was out, and just tried to throw it off of him,” explained McDonagh, who played a solid 23:36 Saturday.”We talk about throwing pucks to the net against a team like this, and I just got fortunate there, no question.”
Dallas very nearly tied the score a minute later off a scramble in Lundqvist’s crease when Jason Spezza poked the puck to the goal line and McDonagh slid with his legs out stopping the shot. The on-ice call by the officials was that no goal had been scored, and the video review was ruled inconclusive, setting off an unpenalized tirade at the officials by Stars coach Lindy Ruff.
“That’s such a tight call,” said Lundqvist. “From I saw you couldn’t see (the puck) cross the line, and that’s the rule. No question we got the bounces today.”
Added McDonagh, “I thought it was caught under my chest, but it must have spun out. Obviously we’re very fortunate there.”
The Stars eventually did tie the game, with just 4:01 remaining in regulation. Lundqvist was unable to stop a Valeri Nichushkin left-wing slap shot that ticked off the stick of Rangers defenseman Dan Girardi. On the next shift a Jamie Benn slap shot hit Lundqvist in the chest and richoted off the post, the score remaining tied 2-2.
However a bit more than a minute later Kevin Klein put the Rangers back ahead, 3-2, at 17:07, rifling a shot from between the circles past Lehtonen after collecting the puck when Derek Stepan’s shot was blocked in front. Klein’s sixth goal proved to be the game-winner.
“We played a pretty solid game against one of the top teams in the West,” offered Girardi, who played a team-high 23:45. “We battled, playing New York Rangers hockey. It’s not always pretty, but we battled and got that next big goal.”
After a scoreless first period, the Rangers and Stars swapped goals in the middle stanza, and justly arrived at the second intermission tied 1-1 in an evenly-played game.
The Rangers received the game’s first power play 4:34 of the second period and it took them just four seconds to open the scoring. Derick Brassard won the offensive-zone face off back to Keith Yandle, who proceeded to fire a shot towards the Dallas net. Chris Kreider, stationed in front of Lehtonen, deflected the puck between the Dallas netminder’s pads and into the cage for his 13th goal of the season, and second in as many games following his third-period game-winning tally Thursday night in St. Louis.
Dallas pulled even at 9:08 of the second when Colton Sceviour banged in a rebound after Lundqvist had made a sharp pad save on Tyler Seguin’s quick snap shot.
Less than two minutes later Lundqvist made a terrific right-pad stop to rob Seguin on a point-blank put back from ten feet out. Earlier in the game Lundqvist had stopped Nichushkin twice on breakaways.
“We got more timely stops from Henrik again today, what else is new?” said a smiling Girardi.
Lundqvist also got some help 3:45 into the second when he was handcuffed on high left-wing shot, ultimately dropping the puck in the blue paint before teammates Kevin Klein and Oscar Lindberg pounced on the loose disc and helped Lundqvist cover up before the Stars could reach the puck.
Many of the Rangers best scoring chances at the other end of the ice failed to even register shots on goal. Late in the first period Yandle set up Dominic Moore alone in front of the Dallas net with a slick pass, and after Moore drew Lehtonen to the ice he never got a shot off as Stars defenseman Jamie Oleksiak denied his seemingly open path to the cage. Then at 17:10 of the first J.T. Miller patiently slid back into the right wing circle before snapping a shot off the far post.
In the second period Kreider and Jesper Fast–playing with a full face shield after breaking his nose in practice on Friday–broke in on a two on one, but Fast was unable to tee up Kreider’s saucer pass. Then at the ten-minute mark Mats Zuccarello shot wide on an open putback attempt. Four minutes later Derek Stepan stole the puck in the offensive zone, cut to the net, and before he could get a shot off, was knocked off the puck by Dallas’ Jordie Benn.
The NHL trading deadline arrives at 3:00 Monday afternoon, and later that evening the Rangers will host the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square Garden.
Jim Cerny
BlueshirtsUnited.com
(Reprinted with permission of the New York Rangers)
