Winners, Losers from Rangers stunning 5-3 win against Canucks, including Igor Shesterkin

No matter the final result of the game, the biggest winner of the day was always going to be Sam Rosen. The longtime Rangers broadcaster will retire at the end of this season, after 40 years behind the mic, and was honored in a pregame ceremony at The Garden. Generations of Rangers fans were able to salute one of the good people in this sport, and it was an awesome touch to see his three primary broadcast partners — Joe Micheletti, John Davidson and Phil Esposito — take part in the festivities. “This one will last a lifetime” indeed.

Not only did Igor Shesterkin make 36 saves to put his team in position to win despite being out-shot by more than a 3-1 margin, but the Rangers goalie was at his best when they were run out of the building in the first period-plus. Yet, because of Shesterkin’s brilliant play, the Rangers only trailed 1-0 while being out-shot 22-3 at one point. The tide turned when Shesterkin also got physical, jawing with the Canucks and referees, then whistled for a roughing minor at 7:45 of the second period. The sold-out crowd went nuts with chants of “Igor! Igor!” and it all seemed to wake up his teammates. Simply, he was the biggest difference maker in this game.

It’s not that Kevin Lankinen was terrible, allowing one bad goal after another. It’s just that when you face only 11 shots on goal, there’s no way you can surrender four goals, as he did. Lankinen wasn’t asked to make many timely saves, but when the opportunity was there to do so, the Canucks goalie didn’t come through.

Jonny Brodzinski scored two goals for the second time in his NHL career, and second time in the past month. And these weren’t cheapies. Brodzinski scored a pair of beauties against the Canucks, and they were clutch goals, too. His first gave the Rangers their first lead (2-1) at 1:39 of the third period. Then his second sweet finish proved to be the game-winner at 15:47, 37 seconds after Brock Boeser tied the the score 3-3.

Elias Pettersson’s disappointing season continued with a disappointing showing on Broadway, though not all of it was his fault. The Canucks center played less than half the game before leaving with an undisclosed injury. He didn’t make much of an impact in his 14 shifts before that, failing to register a shot on goal, even when the Canucks were dominating the Rangers.

It wasn’t always a great afternoon for J.T. Miller, especially early in the game. And he was on ice for a pair of Canucks goals in the third period. But Miller was also on the ice for four of New York’s five goals, assisting on one and putting the dagger into his former team with a 190-foot empty-net goal with 17 seconds left in regulation. It had to be a sweet win for Miller.

Brennan Othmann picked up his first NHL point in his 16th career game, 13th this season, when he assisted on Adam Fox’s goal that tied the score 1-1 in the second period. The rookie forward was around the net all afternoon, noticeable on pretty much each of his shifts, even though he only logged 8:17 TOI. Othmann was bumped up from the fourth line and received some shifts with Artemi Panarin and Vincent Trocheck, and the the 2021 first-round pick didn’t look out of place. He also continued to be a physical presence with five hits on 13 shifts.

Adam Fox scored a hugely important goal at 11:03 of the second period. Not only did his deflection from the right circle tie the game 1-1, but it came on New York’s fourth shot of the game, when they’d been badly outplayed. It changed the feeling on the ice and in the building. Fox also picked up the primary assist on Miller’s empty-netter and showed a nasty streak, not afraid to lower the boom, getting away with several cross-checks in some chippy exchanges.