RANGERS LOOK
Beat Oilers to push winning streak to 6
Each time the Rangers step on the ice, their abysmal start to the season becomes a more and more distant memory.
The Rangers extended their winning streak to six games Saturday afternoon at the Garden with a 4-2 victory over Connor McDavid and the Oilers. After losing nine of their first 12 games, the Blueshirts (9-7-2) have suddenly turned into the hottest team in the NHL.
Rick Nash led the way with two goals, one to open scoring in the first period and another in the second that put New York ahead for good. It was Nash’s first multi-goal game since Nov. 21, 2015, when he scored a hat trick in an overtime win over the Panthers.
“We’ve been playing some pretty good hockey here for quite some time,” coach Alain Vigneault said after the win. “We’re working on our game. We’re working on putting a complete game on the ice. There’s no doubt that this group is very resilient, very hard working, and we’re just trying to get better.”
After a slow first month of the season, Nash — who will be an unrestricted free agent following the 2017-18 campaign — has now scored four goals in his last four games, including an empty-netter that sealed a win over the Bruins on Wednesday.
Nash gave the Blueshirts a 1-0 lead just more than 12 minutes into the opening period Saturday. Kevin Hayes delivered a pinpoint pass to Nash on a 2-on-1 rush, and the 33-year-old winger buried the feed into an open net.
“We know Kevin has a lot of patience. You just try to give the puck to playmakers,” Nash said. “It was a great pass by him.”
The Oilers tied the game up four minutes later, when Brady Skjei failed to corral a bouncing puck in front of Henrik Lundqvist, who made 27 saves in the win. The puck deflected to 19-year-old Jesse Puljujarvi, who blasted a shot into the top-right corner over Lundqvist’s shoulder.
Edmonton then grabbed the lead just more than halfway through the second period. After Steven Kampfer was called for holding, McDavid cleaned up a rebound on the ensuing power play to put the Oilers up 2-1.
“The second period was a bit tough for us,” Nash said. “We sat back a bit, and they’re a good team. They’ve got some fast guys, and you’ve got to give them credit. They brought a few good waves of shifts.”
Three minutes after McDavid’s go-ahead goal, the Rangers earned a power play of their own on a delay-of-game penalty. One minute, 22 seconds into the man advantage, Mats Zuccarello fired a crossice pass to Kevin Shattenkirk, who one-timed a feed back to the middle. Pavel Buchnevich was waiting open in the slot, and he put away his eighth goal of the season to knot things at 2.
“It’s one of those plays,” Shattenkirk s a i d . “When you can go seam and then back through the seam on the power play, teams really can’t defend it.”
The Rangers went on the power play again with 2:41 left in the second period, after Patrick Maroon was whistled for elbowing Ryan McDonagh while the two players were tangled along the boards. With 1:07 left in the period, Skjei made up for his earlier error, finding Nash on Cam Talbot’s doorstep. Nash chopped the puck into the top netting for what turned out to be the game-winning goal.
Nash said he and Skjei actually discussed that play prior to the game. The Rangers have now scored on 17 of their 66 power plays (25.8%) so far this year.
“We know him pretty well,” Nash said of Talbot, a former Ranger who made 30 saves. “He challenges hard. He leaves that backdoor play open.”
The Rangers held the explosive Oilers off the scoreboard in the final 20 minutes. Lundqvist came up with a couple crucial saves in the final two minutes before Michael Grabner put the finishing touches on the win, slotting home an open-net goal with two seconds remaining.
“We’re on a sixgame winning streak, but we’re still not in a great spot,” Lundqvist said. “We had to do this to get back in the race. … Right now, we’re feeling it. So we have to make the most of it and continue to push ourselves.”