Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images

The New York Rangers started off their western road trip with an incredibly convincing 5-1 win over the Vancouver Canucks last night.  The Rangers blitzed the Canucks for five straight goals, including the first three of the game in a four-minute span. The Canucks gave the Rangers way too much room int he neutral zone, and the Rangers took every inch of ice given to them, gaining a boatload of carry-in zone entries.

The Rangers constantly turned that neutral zone open ice into odd-man rushes and goals, with the Canucks defense also picking inopportune times to pinch, resulting in more odd-man rushes. Give the Rangers credit, they capitalized on almost all of their prime opportunities, which ended this game very quickly.

Sorry this part of the post is light, but I’m starting to get delirious. On to the goals:

Rangers 1, Canucks 0

Chris Kreider and Dominic Moore teamed up for a solid play to get the puck out of the zone, in which Moore did a fancy spin move to keep himself in the play. Jesper Fast collected the puck from Moore in the neutral zone and led the 3-on-1 with Moore and Ryan McDonagh. Fast was extremely patient, waiting for McDonagh to get a stride on the defender before threading the needle with a perfect pass for the goal.

Rangers 2, Canucks 0

Martin St. Louis made a nice pass to Derek Stepan to clear the defensive zone and spring Stepan with J.T. Miller for a 2-on-1. Step got the puck to Miller behind the defense, and Miller deked around Miller for the goal.

Rangers 3, Canucks 0

Kevin Bieksa simply got caught at the Rangers blue line, springing the Rangers for another 3-on-1. Rick Nash got the puck across the box to Mats Zuccarello, who wired it past Miller, who was 1-for-4 at this point in the game. Not his fault though, those were some serious chances and some pretty epic gaffes by the Canucks.

Rangers 4, Canucks 0

Kevin Hayes and Lee Stempniak did a great job of maintaining puck control in the offensive zone before Stempniak was able to get the puck to Marc Staal at the point. Staal recognized the four big bodies in front of Miller, and ripped it through all of them, over Miller’s glove for his first of the season. No GIF on this one, was just a rip from the point with no real defensive breakdown.

Rangers 5, Canucks 0

What a beauty of a goal from Nash, Brassard, and Zuccarello. Brassard carried the puck out of the zone, then hit Nash along the boards and skated hard to follow-up the play. Nash spun along the boards and hit the streaking Brassard with a blind backhand pass. Zuccarello cut to the net, and Brassard hit him with another beautiful pass.

Canucks 1, Rangers 5

Kevin Klein stepped up in the neutral zone, but the Canucks were able to move around him and generate a 2-on-1. Nick Bonino wanted to take this one himself, and was able to burn an out of position John Moore before just ripping it over Hank’s glove. No GIF on this one.

Shift Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Fenwick Chart:

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

The Rangers never really had a Corsi advantage, but then again they never needed one, and this game was never close. That sharp rise in the third period is due to the Rangers turtling.

Team Shot Plots (NEW!):

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

This is a new feature, but it’s pretty self-explanatory.

Player Corsi Events (NEW!):

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Courtesy of war-on-ice

Another new feature. Players want to be in the lower right portion of the graphs. However, like the Fenwick chart above, this is skewed by score effects. This game was never close.

Zuccarello scored twice, while Staal and McDonagh finally notched their first goals of the season. Was nice to see Miller get another goal, showing nice chemistry with his new linemates. Henrik Lundqvist made 29 saves in the win. The Rangers have another game tomorrow night in Edmonton.

All GIFs courtesy of .

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