Rangers win snooze-fest in Edmonton

AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Jason Franson

Last night’s game was an absolute snooze-fest. The Rangers came in knowing they were playing a bad team, and the Oilers came in just like the bad team they are. The teams combined for just 38 shots on goal, which was probably less than the number of icings we saw in this game. Neither team came prepared to play, there were turnovers galore, no forecheck, no sense of urgency, and no real passion from either team.

Henrik Lundqvist made 16 saves, most from the outside, en route to his fifth shutout of the year. Kevin Hayes was extremely noticeable in a good way, showing that his development has come a long way since the beginning of the year. There’s really not much else to say about this game though.

On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Oilers 0

The Rangers put on a solid forecheck, spearheaded by J.T. Miller in the corner to get the puck back to Mats Zuccarello, who got the puck to Rick Nash behind the net. Nash got the puck to Dan Girardi at the left post, who spun and hit Zuccarello in front. Zucc was able to get position on the defense, specifically Mark Arcobello, which is why he was so open. As you watch the pass, you see two Oiler players are late to the play. The puck went in off Arcobello’s skate. No GIF on this one, sorry.

Rangers 2, Oilers 0

Carl Hagelin empty-netter after forcing a turnover at the blue line.

Now to the war-on-ice charts.

Shift Chart:

Alain Vigneault didn’t have the last change in this game, but didn’t really need it since Edmonton didn’t show up to play. There’s a nice balance of four lines, and it was nice to see Jesper Fast getting more shifts in the final five minutes of the game.

Fenwick Chart:

This game was a disaster. There was no real Corsi advantage for the Rangers, but there was a flurry in the middle of the second in which Ben Scrivens was good. Other than that, boring game.

Team Shot Plots:

The chart is self-explanatory, with larger letters showing higher quality chances (rebounds, rushes). The Rangers blocked a boatload of quality Oilers chances from the slot, noted by all those B’s in the slot on the right hand chart.

Player Corsi Events:

In these charts, you want players to be in the lower right corner of the chart. Ideally, you’d like to see all players on the right side of the diagonal going through the middle of the chart (break-even point).

This game was extremely boring, but it was another two points on a west coast swing that is against poor competition. These are games they need to win, and they went out and did just that, even if it wasn’t pretty. The Rangers get a much-needed day off with short travel to Calgary. Hopefully their legs show up on Tuesday against the Flames.

All gifs courtesy of gifgoldmine.com.