Rangers Recap: Rangers Douse Flames, Win 3-1

Tonight, the New York Rangers continue their Western Conference road trip with a stop in Calgary to take on the Flames. This Veterans Day matchup will be the last time the Rangers visit the iconic Scotiabank Saddledome, as the Flames move across the street to their new arena next season. The Rangers lineup looks mostly similar, but with a couple of minor tweaks.

Joonas Korpisalo will get his second start of the season, and recently called-up Glenn Gawdin will make his season debut. This will be Gawdin's first NHL game since March 6th, 2024, but his presence in the lineup allows head coach Mike Sullivan to shift his other forwards around and effectively end the Will Cuylle-at-center experiment for now.

First Period

The game against the Flames started off hot, no pun intended. Barely a minute in, Gabe Perreault and Jake Middleton were skating toward the puck in the corner, and Middleton went down hard. A scrum formed immediately, as at first it appeared to be a dangerous play and the Flames took issue with Perreault. When the broadcast replayed the penalty, MSG Network commentator Brian Boyle cut into the officials, as it became clear Middleton's skate hit a rut and went down, but Perreault still took a trip to the box.

The Rangers killed the penalty, and the Flames barely got a good look, but shortly after it expired, Calgary had the best chance of the game so far. Zayne Parekh, with several cutting moves, wheeled around multiple Rangers as he skated down the boards and wrapped tightly around the net, trying to tuck the puck in. Korpisalo, anticipating the play, let go of his stick and dove across the crease, using his blocker to keep the puck out. In the next minute, the Flames kept challenging Korpisalo, but he stood tall and kept the game scoreless.

The Rangers took a bit to find their rhythm, but near the halfway point they began to press back. Pavel Dorofeyev, who has found a bit of puck luck lately, added to his league-leading shots off the iron, hitting the post for the eighth time this season. The top line got some good zone time, cycling the puck and attacking the net, but the team's best opportunity in the period came when Laba whiffed on a perfect centering pass from Cuylle, who was behind the net.

With a minute left in the period, Adam Fox reminded the rowdy Calgary crowd what they missed out on when he forced his way out of town. Martin Pospisil skated hard into the Rangers zone, put his shoulder down, and cut toward the net. Adam Fox, realizing he didn't quite have the angle on the Flames forward, played the body and shoved Pospisil off the puck, turning a dangerous opportunity for the Flames into a routine play stoppage for Korpisalo.

Second Period

The Rangers had a better start to the middle period, finally breaking through and taking the first lead of the game. It started with a great breakout pass from Marcus Pettersson to Alexis Lafrenière in the neutral zone. Lafrenière made a soft pass to Zibanejad, who grabbed the puck with a full head of steam and skated into the Flames' zone. He began to loop behind the net and threw the puck toward Devin Cooley in the crease, it ricocheted off the Calgary goaltender and right into the back of the net.

A little while later, Braden Schneider was taken down, giving the Rangers their first power play of the game. Despite constant practice and frequent changes to power-play personnel, the Rangers still looked disorganized and ineffective with the man advantage. They got a chance to redeem themselves later in the period, and the result couldn't have been more different.

The officials blew the play down quickly while the Rangers still had possession, but former friend Ryan Strome was the only one who went to the box. This time, the Rangers' power-play unit looked surgical. After winning the face-off and setting up in the offensive zone, Lafrenière slid the puck to Dorofeyev on the boards. Dorofeyev took a step into the center of the zone and sent the puck across the ice to Zibanejad, who fired a blistering one-timer through Cooley and in for his second goal of the game.

The Flames pushed back at times, but ultimately couldn't get on the scoreboard in the second period. With about a minute left, Strome and Pospisil combined for a chance, but Korpisalo made the save. Pospisil kept whacking at the puck, and players from both teams converged at the net. Fifty seconds later, as the buzzer sounded, Vladislav Gavrikov took issue with Parekh cross-checking Fox, and another scrum broke out. This game was getting spicy, and MSG Network commentator Alex Faust himself said it was heating up.

Third Period

The final period was even testier, and the Rangers got yet another power play early. Adam Fox was on the ice for the entire man-advantage, and the Calgary crowd proved their mettle, continuing to loudly boo Fox every time he touched the puck. The first unit saw some good looks but failed to generate anything serious, but the second power-play unit moved the puck well, and Bjorkstrand rang a shot off the post. Right after his close call, Bjorkstrand took a dirty hit in the corner while chasing down a puck. His head went into the boards after Joel Henley pushed him toward the wall. The officials didn't call anything, but did award the Flames their own power play shortly after.

Calgary maintained possession for most of their power play, but the Rangers did a good job keeping them to the perimeter. Unfortunately for the Blueshirts, this wouldn't last. Yegor Sharangovich passed the puck down low to Ryan Strome, who put it right in front of Adam Klapka. Although Pettersson did his best to contain him, Klapka, who towers over 6'4 Pettersson at 6'8, easily tapped it in to cut the Rangers' lead in half.

The Flames were lightly dominating the period, but the Rangers weren't taking it easy. On multiple occasions, a Rangers forward rushed into Calgary's zone, getting to the puck to either make something out of nothing or, in Jaroslav Chmelar's case, beat out an icing. The team was on their heels, but they were still finding ways to push back. Mike Sullivan must have liked what he saw in Chmelar's game, because he moved him up the lineup and it paid off immediately. An immovable force on the boards, he won a few key battles to get the puck out of the Rangers' zone and, shortly after, singlehandedly stopped Sharangovich from getting the puck all alone in front of Korpisalo.

With less than two minutes left, Cooley went to the bench, and at the first stoppage of play, Calgary called a timeout. The Rangers did well to break up any Flames passing plays, and Zibanejad got the puck to Miller in the neutral zone, who passed it to a wide-open Tye Kartye, who scored an empty-net goal from the neutral zone. The Rangers, especially Korpisalo, played a complete game, and they were rewarded for it with a regulation win.