Why Rangers know latest win was ‘not a recipe’ for success in playoff race
After an embarrassing 8-2 blowout loss in Buffalo to the Sabres on Saturday, the New York Rangers had one essential goal on Sunday: pick up two points.
They did – defeating the Pittsburgh Penguins, 5-3 – but it was far from pretty. The unsustainable victory masked a dominant Pittsburgh effort.
“We need to win games right now first and foremost, which we did tonight, but that’s not a recipe for winning games,” defenseman Ryan Lindgren said postgame.
The Rangers were outplayed in the first period but the score was tied at one heading into the middle 20 minutes of play. By the end of the second period, the Rangers led 2-1 – but a quick glance at the scoreboard could not encapsulate how completely they were dominated by the 15th-place team in the Eastern Conference during the period.
“My evaluation is that it was awful. You guys all saw it. We were in the D zone the entire time, we were giving them chance after chance,” Lindgren said about the second period. “Everything about it was awful.”
The Penguins took the first 17 shots on goal in the second period. Igor Shesterkin was stellar in net, saving them all (plus another two before the period ended) and the Rangers killed off two power plays to preserve the tie. Amazingly, the Rangers’ first shot on goal did not come until 15:09, when Joel Blomqvist made a save on Braden Schneider.
Not long after, the Rangers scored the period’s lone goal. After Pittsburgh misplayed the puck at the blue line, J.T. Miller and Alexis Lafrenière broke out on a two-on-one rush. Miller snapped a wrist shot past Blomqvist at 17:00 to give New York the lead.
It can be argued the Rangers were playing worse over 40 minutes Sunday than in their blowout defeat the night before. Yet, here they were, incredibly up 2-1
Their poor play caught up to them early in the third period; two quick goals from Ryan Shea turned a one-goal Penguins deficit into a one-goal Penguins lead at 3:31.
Following Shea’s goals, New York staged an impressive third-period comeback. Jimmy Vesey scored the equalizer at 4:21, Adam Fox gave the Blueshirts the lead at 11:26 and Miller put the game away with an empty-net goal at 19:53.
Shesterkin finished with 36 saves, keeping the Rangers in it despite that brutal second period. It was undoubtedly a nice bounce-back game for him after being pulled following five first-period goals allowed in Buffalo less than 24 hours earlier.
The win saved New York from what could have been a disastrous weekend, but the Rangers know they need to play much better going forward, starting with a rivalry game against the New York Islanders at UBS Arena on Tuesday.
“We’ve got another big one on Tuesday, a team we’re battling with in the standings right now,” Lindgren said. “We have to play a heck of a lot better, for sure.”
Related: 3 Rangers takeaways after fortunate 5-3 win against Penguins
Rangers aim to play ‘full complete game’ after stealing win against Penguins
While the third-period come-from-behind wins are exciting for fans and players alike, relying on late-game heroics is far from the plan going forward.
“We want to play a lot better 60 minutes, full complete game,” forward Will Cuylle said. “I think our third periods have been good lately, so want to try to carry that over into next game.”
In a sense, the Rangers got lucky Sunday. Their second-period woes could have easily done them in, but Shesterkin played the hero to salvage the second half of the weekend road trip. Both games were against teams on the outside looking in at the playoff race. Walking away from the weekend without getting any points would have been a disaster.
At 60 points (28-25-4), the Blueshirts are two behind the Ottawa Senators and Columbus Blue Jackets for the second wild-card spot – both teams sit at 62 points. One spot behind the Rangers in the standings are the Islanders (25-24-7, 57 points). The New York rivals play twice in a seven-day stretch, with the Islanders coming to Madison Square Garden on March 3.
The Islanders need that game Tuesday just as much as the Rangers, if not more. A performance like the one in Pittsburgh isn’t going to cut it, especially in a rivalry game with playoff implications.
“It’s got to be better than that,” Cuylle said. “it’s not a good performance by us by any means. We know the standard is higher than that, so we need to be better.”
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