vlad namestnikov tony deangelo jesper fast

The Rangers came to play last night. Their top line wasn’t needed in this one, as it was all secondary and tertiary scoring for the Rangers and their six goals. The Blueshirts jumped out to a two goal lead in the first courtesy of Boo Nieves and Jesper Fast. Jimmy Vesey added the eventual game winner in the second, and Pavel Buchnevich and Vlad Namestnikov added the insurance in the third.

Alex Georgiev stopped 31 of 33 shots in the win, another solid performance for the young netminder in which he had to make several difficult stops. The Rangers did lose Brady Skjei though, so it’s not all hunky-dory for the Blueshirts. Despite the decision to play 11 forwards (including Connor Brickley) and seven defensemen, the Rangers still came out on top.

Rangers 1, Sabres 0

The Rangers actually lost this faceoff, but Marco Scandella made the worst clearing attempt I’ve ever seen. Kevin Shattenkirk easily kept this in and put the puck on net. Connor Brickley got a whack, then Brendan Smith got a diving whack. Then Nieves was there to take the loose puck in the high slot and put it over Linus Ullmark.

Rangers 2, Sabres 0

Namestnikov had himself a shift here. He did a great job protecting the puck and straddling the blue line before finding Tony DeAngelo in the corner. DeAngelo got it right back to Namesnikov at the point for the shot. Fast cut to the high slot for the screen and deflection. I don’t really see a breakdown by the Sabres on defense here, just good puck movement by the Rangers.

Rangers 2, Sabres 1

Jason Pominville took the puck away from Marc Staal behind the net and very quickly found Jeff Skinner in front for the goal. Skinner was uncovered because the Rangers were in the middle of transitioning to offense and the quick turnover/pass in front gave no recovery time.

Rangers 3, Sabres 1

Buchnevich is pretty good at this hockey thing, eh? He forces the turnover here from Pilut, then fights off the defender –also Pilut– to one-hand the pass in front to Vesey, who buries it.

Rangers 3, Sabres 2

This was good puck movement by the Sabres on the powerplay, including a second or two when they recovered the puck from Brendan Smith’s skates. Smith was never able to get his stick on the puck, and Sam Reinhart was able to poke the puck to the slot for Skinner with all day to shoot.

Rangers 4, Sabres 2

Kevin Hayes with the takeaway. Kevin Hayes playing keep away. Kevin Hayes with the beautiful fake shot pass to Buchnevich for the tap-in goal.

Rangers 5, Sabres 2

This was not the best play by Ullmark. He gift Namestnikov his first goal here, just 8 seconds after Buchnevich gave the Rangers some insurance.

Rangers 6, Sabres 2

Namestnikov empty netter.

Shot Heatmap

The Blueshirts got most of their goals from the slot area, so they were crashing the net a lot. As for Buffalo, they certainly got a good amount of attempts from in front, but also took a bunch of chances from the left point. Just something interesting.

The Blueshirts aren’t helping their draft position with the wins, but the wins are fun to watch. The Rangers get to play spoiler again against the struggling Penguins during prime time on Sunday afternoon. I keep wondering when the trades will be made, but now I’m wondering if they will be made.

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