Rangers edge past Wings in an Original Six nailbiter

NHL.com

The Rangers hosted the Red Wings on a slow night in hockey in what was a pretty riveting Original Six matchup. I’m still wrapping my head around what the term “rivalry” means to NBCSN, but so far I mostly think it means “the game that’ll generate the most viewership.” I also think it means an 8pm start, which means this post won’t be a goal breakdown – sorry Dave.

All jokes aside, this game was pretty phenomenal. There was a lot of energy, lots of momentum changes, some really beautiful goal scoring, and, of course, a minor heart attack when Detroit tied it with 7.7 to go. Horrible officiating was a major theme of this game, but we all know that you can’t blame the refs for a loss; you just have to work harder to win.

My thoughts, in bulletpoint form..

• I started my game notes by saying something like I hate breakaways and I don’t want any more ever again. This is because nobody seems to be able to score on the breakaway. I think during the intermission Martin St. Louis read my mind cause finally he scored on.. you guessed it, a breakaway!
• A lot of goals in this game were beauties, but not the first one. Rick Nash’s tush deserves its first goal of the season on that one. A deflection on a Derick Brassard rocket towards the net earns him his 10^th of the year.
• Yes, Rick Nash has TEN goals this year. Corey Perry over in Anaheim leads the league with 11. Watch out babies, this is what we traded for.
• Last point on Nash – he’s playing smarter, seems more in the game this year. He drew a great penalty early on in the first period, catching Henrik Zetterberg backchecking and drawing a hook. This led to his buttgoal.
• NBCSN seems more bearable this season, though I am able to identify seven (literally seven, I counted) players by their colleges from the first period alone.
• Kevin Klein’s save, though it led to the penalty shot, was absolutely necessary. He saved a goal that Nyqvist wound up not scoring on his free shot. I wouldn’t say having Klein (and his fabulous Movember stache) play backup goalie is a great plan – I mean, we do have Henrik Lundqvist, he’s pretty decent between the pipes – but I thought it was a smart play.
• Though the penalty shot was stopped by Hank, it shifted the momentum to the Wings, who then scored 2 in 13 seconds, which leads me to my next point…
• I hate that play didn’t stop after the non-goal-that-turned-to-a-goal happened. I don’t understand the point. Had the Rangers scored there, it wouldn’t count. What good could come of it? What if someone gets concussed in that strange free time? If you need to review a play, whistle it, review it, and go on with your life after the call is made.
• The officials absolutely stunk through this game. That being said, there were piss poor penalties on both teams. Hagelin was sloppy with his stick and rearranged Dan DeKeyser’s face, after which Johan Franzen introduced Hagelin to the ice via his face; neither of the penalties got called. I can understand fans being upset about missed calls, but that doesn’t justify sloppy play.
• Brassard’s game winner was a beauty, and as a fan of the game, we can only hope that Jonas Gustavsson isn’t injured, because he played one heck of a game.

Overall, if this game was a movie, I would give it two thumbs up…. even with Drury Jersey Guy in attendance. 3 points this week with all of the injuries show how strong this team is.