Recap: Zibanejad, Quick Lead Rangers Past Canucks 2-0 in Miller’s Homecoming Win

Tonight's game marks the first time J.T. Miller has returned to Vancouver since the blockbuster trade that sent him back to New York. Those high emotions will hopefully bring high energy right from the start for the New York Rangers, who have consistently struggled early and surrendered several quick goals this season.

A few notes before we begin: Head coach Mike Sullivan decided to sit Brennan Othmann, and Jonathan Quick is getting the nod in goal against the Vancouver Canucks. The Othmann decision could be considered a head scratcher, but the young winger did himself no favors in the dud he and the rest of the Rangers put up against the Calgary Flames Sunday night. Kenny Albert gave us a fun little fact about J.T. Miller's time in Vancouver, only Pavel Bure had a higher points per game average. That speaks volumes of the prolific scoring he achieved while playing as a Canuck.

First Period

J.T. Miller started the game between Lafrenière and Sheary, and it was immediately apparent Miller was playing a high-tempo game. The team pressured the Canucks right out of the gate but ultimately came up short in generating a high-quality chance. Shortly after Zibanejad and Cuylle came onto the ice, Soucy misplayed the puck behind the net, leading to an exceptionally dangerous opportunity for Reichel, who was only kept off the scoreboard because of Jonathan Quick's acrobatics. Shortly after this, Quick made another big glove save, but Drew O'Connor got to the front of the net first and made a diving play on the puck and hit the post. Things were looking a bit dicey.

The teams then traded slight defensive lapses back and forth until Fox had the puck near the Canucks' blue line as the rest of the Rangers were in deep. He faked a shot and made a pass to Gavrikov, who was very wide of the net, and it led to another broken play. This sequence perfectly highlighted two things about the Rangers, their lack of cohesion in making plays, and their lack of a scoring threat from a defenseman aside from Adam Fox.

Just under seven minutes into the period, Cuylle made an excellent physical play and knocked the Canucks defender off the puck behind the net. Zibanejad wasted no time putting the puck on a wide-open Panarin's stick in front of the net, but Panarin waited for what felt like an eternity before taking his shot and getting stuffed by Demko. The team has lacked a killer instinct in front of the net, and Panarin has been guilty of it time and time again in the young season.

Around the ten-minute mark, Zibanejad played the puck back to Vaakanainen behind the Rangers' net. Elias Petterson forechecked hard, and although Vaakanainen was able to get rid of the puck, Petterson reverse hip checked him and took the Rangers defenseman out. For a player often seen as the opposite in finesse versus physicality compared to J.T. Miller, he certainly didn't shy away from finishing his hit. Approving of this, the Vancouver crowd started a "Let's Go Petey" chant.

At the end of a defensive gaffe by Fox that led to a point-blank shot by Conor Garland and a save by Jonathan Quick, Sam Carrick was tripped, and the Rangers were awarded the first power play of the game. Right before the Blueshirts' power play began, the Canucks aired a touching tribute to J.T. Miller, and the Rangers captain was seen acknowledging the crowd while skating around the faceoff circle.

The Rangers were cycling the puck well during the man advantage. Lafrenière got the puck from the opposite point along the half wall and slung it over to a wide-open Miller on the side of the net, who just missed converting. This was almost a no-look play by Alexis Lafrenière, and while the young winger has been getting called out for his lack of production this year, this is the perfect example to showcase how snakebitten he's been. This play could have easily been a goal; in fact, it probably should have been a goal, but instead, the Rangers once again failed to convert. The rest of the power play had some good looks, but the Canucks were able to kill it off as the second unit, led by Taylor Raddysh, Conor Sheary, and Jonny Brodzinski, couldn't get one past Demko.

With just a couple of minutes left in the period, Adam Fox hit Zibanejad with a perfect breakout pass up the middle of the ice. Skating hard toward the Canucks zone, he dished it to Cuylle and continued charging toward the net. Cuylle made a play to get the puck back over to Zibanejad, whiffed on his first pass attempt, but on his second try got the puck to Mika, who roofed it over a sprawling Demko for the first goal of the game.

The game was getting chippy as the two opponents were beginning to feel each other out. Sam Carrick, patrolling the neutral zone, caught Conor Garland with his head down and delivered a devastating open ice hit that sent Garland and his helmet flying in opposite directions. Shortly after this, Marcus Petterson approached Carrick and instigated a fight. This led to the Rangers' second power play as Petterson was going off for roughing. While this wasn't exactly an instigator penalty, it feels good to see the referees crack down on scenarios where players are forced into a fight to defend themselves after making a clean hit. The Rangers were unable to create anything in the twenty seconds remaining in the period, so the power play would continue in the second.

Second Period

The Rangers' first power play unit started the period and had a lot of great looks, but once again could not get the job done. Many passes were made across the ice, but they were slightly off, resulting in multiple missed chances and barely any shots on goal. The forwards were pulled from the ice after Panarin failed to deflect the puck on net. Panarin had his hands on his helmet and looked visibly frustrated. Fox remaining on with the second power play unit gave them a bit more life, but the Canucks still killed off the penalty.

After the power play expired, Laba won a faceoff, and Edstrom got tied up with Evander Kane and was called for interference. Although the Canucks kept possession in the Rangers' zone for most of their power play, the Rangers still managed to kill off the penalty after a dangerous give-and-go led by Lukas Reichel, who got a break-in on Quick, who stopped him with his left pad.

Just after Edstrom came out of the box and the Rangers were pressuring the Canucks, Evander Kane got called for hooking Braden Schneider. What ensued was the Rangers' worst power play of the game thus far. They failed to generate chances, they failed to maintain long periods of possession, and the Canucks were pressuring them while shorthanded, getting several big opportunities that Quick had to turn away.

Just under fifteen minutes into the period, Miller was skating the puck up the left boards in the neutral zone. He was easily caught by the swifter Canucks defenseman, but he still got the puck in deep. This was the first extended sequence in which the Rangers' top line of Miller, Lafrenière, and Sheary applied pressure in the offensive zone for an extended period. Nothing ultimately came of it, but they cycled the puck around, even getting the defenseman involved in putting a shot on net. The Canucks eventually grabbed the puck, and in their attempt to clear it, Adam Fox, standing just outside the zone, batted it down and kept it in the zone —an impressive feat of hand-eye coordination and hockey sense to be in the right place at the right time.

As the minutes wound down, multiple Rangers lines kept the puck in the Canucks' zone, creating prime scoring opportunities for different defenders. Vaakanainen had a pass at the top of the slot but couldn't get his shot through. A minute later, Carson Soucy had an excellent scoring chance that Demko mishandled with his glove. The period ended, and Mika Zibanejad was still the only goal scorer through forty minutes of game time.

Third Period

With all the bravado surrounding J.T. Miller's return to Vancouver, it was easy to forget that Soucy was also returning to Vancouver. The physicality he played with throughout the night quickly reminded anyone paying attention that Soucy was playing with a bigger edge than normal. This was seen again just a minute into the third period when he stepped up and knocked Elias Petterson off the puck, while an effective play, the referee decided it was interference and Vancouver got the first power play of the period.

The Canucks moved the puck well and had Quick sliding side to side to make a couple of stops, but the Rangers skaters also did some good work in gathering the puck and clearing it down the ice multiple times to kill the penalty.

While the Rangers started the game a bit shaky defensively, they were able to keep the shots from the Canucks at a minimum. That being said, when the Rangers' defense did break down, it often led to a high danger chance for the Canucks. This was seen multiple times in the third period. Six minutes in when Elias Petterson floated the perfect pass to Jake Debrusk who skated in on Quick trying to deke him out of position, but the Rangers' netminder patiently outwaited DeBrusk making another save. Just a couple minutes later in the game another defensive lapse led to a scoring chance for Lukas Reichel. Conor Sheary after getting a hard pass from Miller in the slot made a pass to no one and the puck was picked up by the Canucks leading to possession time in the Rangers zone and forcing Quick to stand tall once again.

After the halfway point in the third period, the game opened up. Vancouver was pressuring in the zone Aatu Raty, former Islander draft pick, beat several Rangers to loose pucks leading to multiple chances for the Canucks. But the Rangers quickly moved up the ice in what seemed to almost be an odd man advantage. Lafreniere who came off the bench got the puck in the high slot and had an uncontested shot against Demko that was blocked away.

As the period wound down, the Canucks pulled their goalie and Jonathan Quick and the Rangers were under a constant barrage of shots. After a timeout was taken, Petterson and Carrick lined up for the faceoff in the Rangers zone. Petterson won the faceoff but couldn't get a shot on net. The puck bounced to Carrick near the blue line and he turned and fired it down the length of the ice right past several Canucks players for the empty net goal to put the Rangers up by two.

Down by two, the Canucks still kept pressing to try and make this a game. They quickly pulled Demko once again but failed to convert on anything in the last minute of the game. As the buzzer sounded to end the game, ther ewas a scrum behind the Rangers net as Sherwood delivered a needless hit to Gavrikov. Schneider and Quick jumped into the fray to let the Canucks know they won't stand for that.

While this game saw a much better effort from the Rangers than previous games, there were still some major defensive breakdowns and concerns that need to be addressed. The Rangers forwards are still struggling to connect and play fluid offensive hockey. If it weren't for the heroics of Jonathan Quick, it's likely we'd be seeing a different result tonight.