Bartender! Two Millers for the win!

Because this is awesome.

J.T. Miller did it again for the Rangers. One game after his overtime winner, Miller notched a pair of goals in quick succession in the second period to seal it for the Rangers early. Miller regained a two-goal lead with a perfectly placed wrist shot over Eddie Lack, then stole the puck from Noah Hanifin before making a great deke on Lack for his second of the game and a three goal lead.

The Rangers controlled most of this game, as most of the action and better scoring chances were in Carolina’s zone. The third period was a little skewed due to score effects, and the fact that Rick Nash probably wishes he didn’t play that period, but that’s how the NHL is nowadays. If you have a lead in the third, you protect it. The Rangers did just that. It wasn’t ugly by any stretch, but it wasn’t the first two periods.

As always, you can view the full videos on our video page here. All GIFs are on nyrgifs.com, filtered under the date of the game. On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Canes 0

Daniel Paille helped force John-Michael Liles into this pass that Ryan McDonagh picked off with solid positioning on the forecheck. He took away close options, which forced the errant pass. McDonagh made a shifty move at the blue line to get more space, and put a nice shot past Eddie Lack.

Rangers 2, Canes 0

Kevin Hayes forced the turnover in the offensive zone, then did a great job holding the puck while the play developed. He dished to Oscar Lindberg behind the net as Keith Yandle read the play and darted to the slot. Lindberg hit him with a perfect pass, and Yandle didn’t miss.

Canes 1, Rangers 2

Dan Boyle took a high stick from Andrej Nestrasil, and while he was looking for a penalty, lost his man. Nestrasil was able to find Boyle’s man, Joakim Nordstrom, by the right circle for the one-timer goal.

Rangers 3, Canes 1

The Rangers forced the turnover, and Jesper Fast was able to get the puck to J.T. Miller. Eddie Lack dropped to butterfly initially and didn’t move from it, allowing Miller to shoot it over him.

Rangers 4, Canes 1

Miller forced Noah Hanifin into a turnover, and then the move. Wow.

Shots

The Rangers controlled most of this game, and had a sizable lead in possession until the third period. That’s expected with score effects, as the Rangers shelled. It’s worth noting that despite the shell, they weren’t completely dominated.

Scoring Chances

The Rangers did a good job of controlling the Canes all game, even during the shell. That’s the difference between last night’s shell and the shell we are used to, last night’s didn’t allow good scoring chances. The Canes mostly flatlines after the first five minutes or so.

Individual Corsi

This is full game, so the chart is a bit skewed. Eye test says Boyle had a rough night, and this chart seems to match that. However I’m always skeptical of this chart because it doesn’t take score effects into account.

Shot Locations

This is another one that intrigued me, as the Rangers didn’t get as many shots from the high slot as they usually do. They got a ton of chances down low, which is better. For the Canes, they didn’t get many shots from high priced real estate through. Most were blocked.

Shift Chart

Alain Vigneault didn’t really have set defense pairings for most of the game. Yandle had a few defense partners throughout the game. He settled with Boyle after a while, which was an odd pairing. The lines got jumbled in the third with Nash’s injuries, but AV was going to play all four lines anyway with a big lead.

This is two games in a row of solid process. Ryan Miller kept the Rangers from two straight utter domination games, but overall the Rangers have looked much more like a playoff team the past few games. A struggling Ottawa team is next up, and another prime opportunity for the Rangers to really build something.