Although it may not have been in their best interest to do so, the Rangers capped off their regular season with a nice win over Detroit. The first period featured a standout performance and a goal by veteran defenseman Dan Boyle, although the Red Wings applied the pressure in the second and scored a power play goal to tie things up. Raanta made some key saves in the third to keep the Rangers in it, and Kevin Hayes’ goal put them up, followed by Lindberg’s empty netter to seal the deal.
Rangers 1 Red Wings 0
The play starts in the Rangers’ end, where some nice puck pressure by Dan Boyle and Chris Kreider forces a turnover heading towards the neutral zone, which Boyle picks up with speed. With Brassard coming down the opposite wing Alexey Marchenko finds himself in a tricky spot defensively, and Boyle snaps the shot before he can make a defensive commitment.
Rangers 1 Red Wings 1
Not too much to see here, with the Red wings working a nice cycle play and getting a deflection for the goal. Green has the puck and works it down to Richards at the right circle, who works it back to Green at the point. Green then passes it down to Datsyuk on the opposite side, and Dats takes the shot that’s eventually tipped in by Riley Sheahan.
Rangers 2 Red Wings 1
Although not credited with an assist on this one, a nice effort by Marek Hrivik leads to Kevin Hayes’ goal off a deflect shot from Dylan McIlrath. Hrivik applies some nice forechecking pressure behind the net, eventually working the puck back to Lindberg, who then passes the puck from below the goal line to McIlrath at the point. McIlrath then rips the shot and Kevin Hayes tips it in to put the Rangers up a goal.
Rangers 3 Red Wings 1
Despite having the extra skater on the Red Wings struggle to gain possession in the Rangers zone, with Jesper Fast making a savvy defensive play to scoop the puck out of a scrum in the corner. He then skates I through the neutral zone, passing it to Oscar Lindberg on the wing. Lindberg takes the shot on the empty net and puts the Rangers up 2.
Rangers 3 Red Wings 2
Although the Rangers got the empty net goal Detroit persisted, eventually scoring to put the Red Wings within one. Brad Richards sends the puck down to Mike Green at the left circle, who then works it to Zetterberg down low. Zetterberg, finding himself checked by Tanner Glass, skates back towards the circle before passing the puck to Richards at the blue line, who then takes the shot that finds itself tipped in front by Justin Abdelkader.
Shot Attempts and Scoring Chances
Here we can see that while things were relatively even during the first period, Detroit began running away with things in the second and kept it up from there on out. The Rangers kept pushing, just not at the rate the Red Wings did, and it is worth noting that in the third period we can see that they flat lined, got a good shift in, then flat lined again. Not great but not terrible, and hopefully they’ll tighten things up as the playoffs start.
Shot Location
Although the Rangers got less shots than Detroit it is a positive sign that most of their shots came down low in the slot.
Individual Shot Attempts
Marc Staal and his brother Eric both had good games, as did the latter’s line mates. While this chart isn’t overwhelmingly positive to look at, it doesn’t tell the whole story, just that the Rangers were behind in shot attempts for most of the game.
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