Well, even though it seems like I just went to bed, here we are on Tuesday morning, and as the Mets' great announcer Bob Murphy used to call it, we have a "Happy Re-cap" as the Rangers went out to Los Angeles and worked their way to an impressive 3-1 victory. Alain Vigneault has his first win as Rangers coach, and he had a lot to like about this one.
The Rangers came out flying, forechecking and hitting. Oh by the way, Ryan Callahan was back, and if you think those two things are a coincidence, then I have a bridge in Brooklyn I'll sell you. Callahan was taking the body every chance he could, and it led to him taking a stick to the mouth from Anze Kopitar that was completely accidental, but looked pretty nasty. The Rangers rolled all their forwards and got great efforts from every single one. The top line is starting to find their groove, as Derek Stepan forced a turnover just inside the offensive zone that led to a Rick Nash shot. Jonathan Quick made the initial save for the Kings, but Brad Richards kicked the rebound to his stick and banked a sharp angle rebound in off a sliding defenseman into the net to give the Rangers a hard-fought 1-0 lead which held until the end of the first period.
In the second period, the law firm of Nash and Richards cashes in again as Nash caused a turnover at the Kings blue line, feeds a pass that tipped off of Derrick Brassard to Richards. Richards streaked down the slot, looking to feed Brassard. His pass deflected off of defenseman Slava Voynov right between the legs of Quick and into the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.
Lost in all this was the fact the Henrik Lundqvist was solid, but didn't have to be spectacular. He got help from the crossbar on a Dustin Brown rocket and also the goalpost on a Jordan Nolan breakaway, but otherwise made the saves he had to make, controlled his rebounds, and didn't try to do much.
Third period action saw another turnover lead to a goal, but this time, it bit the Blueshirts in their Blue behinds. Dan Girardi lost the puck to Ranger nemesis Mike Richards who fed a wide open Jake Muzzin in the slot, and he went top shelf on Lundqvist to make it 2-1.
Now, you can watch hockey for a long time and never see anything like the Rangers third goal. Deep in their own zone after a penalty call, Brian Boyle wins a faceoff to Ryan McDonagh who fires it down the ice off the center boards. As it caroms towards the goal, Quick had a "GAAAAACK" moment, losing his stick, having the puck bounce off his blocker pad and rolling into the net. That was all she wrote.
PLUS/MINUS
PLUS - Brad Richards. The reclamation project continues as #19 tallies his first 2 goals of the season. The Rangers need every bit of offense they can get from him.
PLUS - Mats Zuccarello. He was a waterbug all over the ice creating plays, taking on players much bigger than him (which is basically everybody). Sometimes you can't judge things on the scoresheet, and Zuccarello was one of the best players on the ice.
PLUS - Alain Vigneault. Congrats on the win, coach. We all hope it's the first of many.
MINUS - The Power Play. Too fancy, The Rangers had 3 power plays and managed one shot on goal combined on all three. I'd like to see John Moore on the PP just throwing it toward the net. I'm not a coach though.
Come back later for the Blue Preview of tonight's game against San Jose. Until then.....BLEED BLUE!
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