Nash’s Late Goal Propels Rangers Past Oilers
In nail biting fashion, the New York Rangers came away with a huge 5-3 victory over the Edmonton Oilers, and went on to win their third straight game. The Rangers never led in this game until the final 1:21, after Rick Nash slammed home a rebound in front of the net, and secured the two points.
The Rangers didn’t have the strongest of games in the defensive zone tonight, and that was due largely in part to the speedy Oilers transition game. Connor McDavid is also ridiculous, and played a large part in the offense tonight for the Oilers.
Early on in this game, the Oilers speed was giving the Rangers some issues and that gave the Oilers their first power play of the game. Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was able to convert off to the right side of the net after catching a unintentional redirection off of McDavid’s skate.
Thankfully, the Rangers were able to get the goal rather quickly as Michael Grabner set up Kevin Hayes in the same exact spot, and pulled the Rangers even at one. Later on in the second period, the Oilers were able to grab back the lead following an odd-man rush back the other way, which was finished off by Patrick Maroon.
Dan Girardi was the lone defenseman back on the 2-on-1, and played the pass about as poorly as a defenseman can. Rather than staying on his feet, Girardi elected to snow angel, and completely took himself out of the play. That gave the Oilers a mini 2-on-0 down low, and Maroon slammed home a centering pass from Jesse Puljujarvi.
A little over five minutes later, the Rangers answered once again and Michael Grabner tapped home a loose puck to come away with his sixth goal of the year. Much like the previous two periods, the Rangers started off a little sluggish, and at the 8:49 mark, the Oilers pulled ahead yet again on a point shot from Adam Larsson.
This was a tough one for Henrik Lundqvist, as there was a double screen set up in front of him as the puck came in on net. Jesper Fast failed to block the shot out high, and two players were also in front of Lundqvist at the top of the crease. Hank never saw the puck coming, and it slipped between his legs to give the Oilers a 3-2 lead.
Yet again, the Rangers were able to answer also immediately and this time around, it was Jesper Fast registering his first goal of the season. Brady Skjei created the entire goal with a big time keep at the blue line, and fed it to Brandon Pirri for a quick shot on net. Just as the shot was released, Fast stuck his stick in the shooting lane, and deflected the puck to fool Cam Talbot.
Then, within the final two minutes, the Rangers finally took their first and only lead of the evening. After Talbot was unable to handle Nick Holden’s point shot, Rick Nash quickly corralled the puck and slammed home the rebound to give the Rangers a 4-3 lead. With a little over a minute remaining, J.T. Mller caught a fortunate bounce after banking the puck off the boards, and the puck wound up sliding into the empty net.
For the third straight game, the Rangers have put up five goals and also found a way to come away with their third straight win. This offense continues to fire on all cylinders, and they were able to respond each and every time the Oilers grabbed a lead in this game. The Rangers will be back in action this coming Saturday, where they make a quick trip out to Boston on Saturday for a meeting with the Bruins.
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