Second Period Surge Gives Rangers Fifth Straight Victory
Following last night’s victory over the Boston Bruins, the New York Rangers made it five wins in a row after defeating the Winnipeg Jets tonight. Yet again, the Rangers were able to put up five goals, and their offense carried them to the finish line once again.
Given the Rangers were coming off of a hard fought win last night, many expected that the Rangers would start slow with tired legs. However, it was exactly the opposite and the Rangers came out absolutely flying. As a result, just 2:12 into regulation, Kevin Hayes put the Rangers up 1-0 coming off of a slap shot from just inside the blue line. Just prior to the goal, the Rangers were set to go on the power play, which was negated due to the goal.
Unfortunately, after the Rangers early surge, their tired legs finally set in a bit which allowed the Jets to hop right back into the game. The goal came courtesy of Patrik Laine, who picked up his eighth goal of the season on a deflection in the high slot. A little past the midway point of the second period, the Rangers were able to grab back the lead thanks to Mats Zuccarello.
The play started with a great defensive play by Chris Kreider to intercept the puck, and chip it past a sprawling Dustin Byfuglien. Kreider was able to transition the play into a 2-on-1, and fed it over the Zuccarello who tucked the puck just under the crossbar. About two minutes later, the Jets were able to respond off of a broken play in the crease, and Mark Scheifele poked home the loose puck to make it a 2-2 game.
From that point on, the Rangers offensive finally regained some life and exploded for three straight goals. J.T. Miller got everything started with a ridiculous shot that beat Hellebuyck over the glove, and gave the Rangers their third lead of the night. Three minutes later, Kevin Klein’s slap shot from the point wound up deflecting off of Jesper Fast’s skate, and gave the Rangers the 4-2 lead.
Pavel Buchnevich finished off the second period scoring barrage with an absolutely beautiful move for his second of the season. The goal was so ridiculous that I’m not even going to describe it, I’m just going to let everyone watch it on repeat a few thousand times.
Buchnevich just paralyzing Hutchinson pic.twitter.com/0ubWoxO9gO
— Pete Blackburn (@PeteBlackburn) November 7, 2016
With the Rangers up by three goals heading into the third period, and being on the second leg of a back-to-back, the Rangers understandably switched into defensive mode. Mixing in a few penalties here and there, the Rangers were able to keep the Jets in check for the most part, and limited them to just one shot with the goaltender pulled.
After sweeping the weekend series with the Bruins and Jets, the Rangers will now get a much needed day off before going up against the Vancouver Canucks on Tuesday evening.