Rangers’ MetLife comeback a trend set by team mindset
The spotlight of a Stadium Series game — with the third-largest crowd in NHL history, plus a national television audience watching what unfolded at MetLife Stadium — and the thrill of an overtime result doesn’t mask much.
So for the Rangers, allowing three goals across the first eight minutes was an ugly reminder of what unraveled their scorching start to the season. Their poor habit of allowing multiple goals within one minute reappeared again, too. But then a hidden attribute surfaced, the one that keeps stabilizing their season even when opponents, like the Islanders in the Blueshirts’ eventual 6-5 win, built what resembled a commanding lead.
When Artemi Panarin flipped the puck past goaltender Ilya Sorokin 10 seconds into overtime, the Rangers completed their 18th comeback win of the season and ninth in the third period. They’re tied for the NHL lead in both categories. The Lightning in 2018-19 and Panthers in 2021-22 hold the record for most wins after trailing by at least one goal (29), and the Ducks, from 2014-15, set the record for most wins after trailing by at least one goal in the third period (18), according to league records.
The Rangers might not pass those marks, but at points this year they’ve escaped from different scenarios and sizes of deficit to remain near the top of the NHL standings. In their latest — and most extreme — example of that, it helped secure a season-best seventh consecutive win, too.
“Just a resilient group who just, I feel like at any point in any game, we believe we’re going to win the game,” defenseman Jacob Trouba said. “It’s not like a fake thing where people are rahrahing on the bench. It’s just how we go about business and the belief we have in this group.”
Even head coach Peter Laviolette admitted it “wasn’t a script that we would’ve written.” Falling behind by two goals before rattling off five straight in the second period Jan. 27 against the Senators likely wouldn’t have been a version of that, either. Same with their 2-0 deficit earlier that month that turned into a 5-2 win against the Ducks — currently the third-worst team in the Western Conference.
“I think that you gain confidence when things are going well, and you feel like you can do anything,” Laviolette said. “So when you’re down by a couple goals with six minutes to go, you still feel like you can do something, and I think our guys believed that.”
Earlier in the season, the Rangers avoided consecutive losses until Dec. 5 and 9. They didn’t falter often, but when they did, the Rangers went 5-0 in their games that directly followed. It helped them avoid the losing streaks that sink seasons and turn postseason plans into chaotic scrambles.
An underlying layer to that, though, has been their ability to erase in-game deficits and use that to extend winning streaks. When the Blueshirts won six straight early in the campaign, four of those featured comebacks — two with 1-0 deficits, the other two with a 2-1 obstacle. Recently, with the Rangers still undefeated since the All-Star break, they turned 1-0 deficits into victories in three games.
Sunday marked the first time in 2023-24 that a threegoal deficit turned into a victory.
“I think a lot of times, obviously, you play against good teams and they’re going to do good things,” center Mika Zibanejad said, “but we try to take a look at ourselves and see what we have to do. I think in situations we’re down, we know what we have to do and I think we’ve been pretty good at kind of getting back on track and obviously getting big goals and creating some sort of momentum to try to swing the game back our way.”
The Rangers won’t be able to always rely on erasing these deficits — especially the multi-goal ones and as the regular season transitions into an expected postseason berth. But even if it’s not sustainable, it’s certainly not a fluke at this point, either.