Recap: Rangers Overcome Scoring Woes, Defeat Kraken in Overtime 3-2

Tonight, the New York Rangers are back at it again, playing the Seattle Kraken. The team is squaring off against a couple of familiar faces, Ryan Lindgren and Kaapo Kakko, the latter of whom is making his season debut against his former team. This is Kakko's first time playing the Rangers since being traded away across the country. Mike Sullivan is running it back with the same lineup against the Kraken, and after that gutsy win against the Oilers, who can blame him? However, Sullivan made a couple of tweaks seen in the Rangers' star-studded top line and rookie Noah Laba centering the second.

1st Period

The period started with both teams trading chances, but just over four minutes into the game, the Rangers were awarded the night's first power play when Alexis Lafrenière drew a tripping penalty. The first unit had several good looks; the Rangers were skating hard to loose pucks and cutting into the slot to take higher-danger shots, but the best chance of the first half of the period came shortly after the power play expired. Sam Carrick skated into the Kraken's zone and went for the wraparound, but Daccord was able to stretch out and get there just in time to keep the score tied at zero.

Braden Schneider hit Brodzinski on the left side as he was skating into the Kraken's zone. He attempted a shot that was deflected up into the air toward the corner. Brodzinski snagged the puck out of mid air and put it down as he wrapped around the net. He dished it to Fox at the point, who slid it over to Gavrikov, who immediately launched it on net. Edstrom and Carrick skating in front of Daccord screened him enough that he wasn't able to glove the puck down, and Gavrikov scored his first goal as a New York Ranger.

The Rangers' momentum continued as they got several good scoring opportunities, but it was the Kraken who would strike next. After Vaakanainen was assessed a two-minute minor for hooking, the Kraken power play wasted no time. They set up in the Rangers' zone and cycled the puck around the perimeter. Chandler Stephenson had the puck at the top of the circle and stepped in closer to Shesterkin and lasered a perfect shot past his glove to tie the game.

The Rangers wasted no time taking the lead back as Noah Laba's tenacity led to their second goal. Laba pokechecked the puck away from Beniers' right to Lafrenière, who slid the puck over to Cuylle as all three forwards were skating hard into the Kraken's zone. Cuylle sent it on net, and Laba, crashing the net, got to the rebound first, batted it in past a sprawling Daccord while falling into the corner. What a goal, what an effort.

2nd Period

During a defensive zone faceoff, Schneider got in the way of Kakko and was called for interference. The Kraken got a couple of dangerous chances, but the Rangers' penalty kill did a great job running down the clock. Specifically near the end, Laba chased down the puck in the Kraken zone, turned it, and sent it back into the Rangers zone to waste the last few seconds of Seattle's power play. Shortly after the Rangers killed the penalty, Schneider was stuck out on the ice for an extended period of time. Jaden Schwartz was skating the puck around the Rangers' zone almost at will. He passed to Brandon Montour, who stepped into his slapshot and rocketed it past Igor to tie the game at two.

Ten minutes into the period, Shane Wright was called for slashing Will Cuylle. The Rangers would go on their second power play of the game. The Blueshirts moved the puck around, making Daccord slide back and forth, but both Miller and Lafrenière missed on similar set plays because they couldn't quite handle a tough pass near the net and didn't capitalize on an out-of-position Daccord. The Rangers' second unit took the ice, and although their puck movement was less flashy, it appeared they got the job done. They threw it on the net, and four players crashed into it, jabbing at the puck. Oleksiak was pushed into the net by Daccord's pad, and at first it was ruled a goal. The referees convened and then elected to overturn the goal on the basis that a Ranger pushed Daccord's pad into the net, causing the puck to cross the line.

The period wound down, and the Rangers had multiple chances to take the lead, but a bad bounce or a stubborn post continued to plague the team. In the last seconds of the period, the Rangers' fourth line was pressing and skating through the offensive zone. When our familiar friend Ryan Lindgren was called for hooking to put the Rangers on the power play to start the third period. Over two periods, the Rangers had been playing well, though Seattle had pushed back successfully at times. The Rangers have so far outshot the Kraken 16-9.

3rd Period

Stop me if you've heard this before: Despite some good chances, the Rangers failed to convert on the power play. There was a moment near the end of the first unit's time on the ice when J.T. Miller caught the puck, but was whistled offside just as he broke in on Daccord alone. Out of frustration, he shot the puck at the boards, a good example of how the Rangers' top forwards have been feeling about their offense.

Much of the final period was the Joey Daccord show. The Rangers continued pressuring with each line getting prime opportunities, but not enough to break through Daccord. The Rangers' best chance of the period was a highlight-reel save made on J.T. Miller after Fox saucered a pass over the lone defender in a two-on-one, but Daccord read the play and slid over to stuff Miller and keep the game tied. In the first ten minutes of the period, the Kraken were only able to get one shot on net, and it took them until thirteen minutes into the third after Shesterkin saved a Kakko backhander to break through into the double digits on the shot counter.

In the waning seconds of the third, the Kraken pressured the Rangers. This was their longest stretch in the Rangers' zone all period. They had the Blueshirts on their heels as every fan watching held their breath, scared of the inevitable. The Rangers were unable to win a puck battle, and the Kraken continued to cycle the puck but ran out of time. After outshooting the Kraken 25-12, the game was heading to overtime.

Overtime

The Rangers and Kraken were up and down the ice, trading whiffed chances. The Rangers dodged a bullet when Beniers was unable to get his stick on a pass when the Kraken were breaking toward the net. Shortly after this, J.T. Miller had the puck and skated it up through the neutral zone. He drove towards Daccord and drew both defenders to him. He slid the puck over to Cuylle by the right side circle, who launched it on net over Daccord for the game winner. Despite some bad luck when it came to putting the puck in the net, it was an overall excellent effort from the Rangers as they powered their way to their third straight win.