kevin hayes

AP Photo/Mary Altaffer

The Rangers and Oilers battled hard last night, but it was a three goal third by the Rangers that propelled them to victory. Down 3-2 late in the third, Brady Skjei, Rick Nash, and J.T. Miller all scored to give the Rangers a 5-3 win. Scoring depth reigned supreme for the Rangers again, as five different players scored. But it was the third line of Miller, Kevin Hayes, and Michael Grabner that shined with seven combined points.

Henrik Lundqvist made big saves when he needed to, ensuring the Ranger were in striking distance all game despite giving up some great chances. Skjei shined as well, with another strong game and some timely defensive plays. This wasn’t the dominating effort we’ve seen for the past few games, but it was still a solid win over a red hot Edmonton team.

On to the goals:

Oilers 1, Rangers 0

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With Jesper Fast in the box, Connor McDavid went to work along the boards, drawing a lot of attention. Eventually the puck got deep, and Milan Lucic was able to outmuscle Marc Staal to get the puck to Jordan Eberle. McDavid slipped to the slot unnoticed, as Derek Stepan was a little slow to get to him and Rick Nash was focused on Eberle with the puck. Eberle’s pass to McDavid took a weird bounce right to Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, who buried it.

Rangers 1, Oilers 1

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J.T. Miller and Michael Grabner forced the Oilers into a turnover with their forecheck. This eventually led to Miller getting the puck to Brady Skjei at the point, whose shot got through. Grabner got the rebound across to Kevin Hayes, who had an empty net.

Oilers 2, Rangers 1

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Ryan McDonagh had his shot blocked, and then accidentally tripped Derek Stepan as he tried to get back. Dan Girardi with the snow angel of death.

Rangers 2, Oilers 2

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Kevin Hayes gained the zone and got the puck to J.T. Miller along the boards. He fired it to the net where Michael Graner was. Grabner had good positioning and outmuscled Adam Larsson for the goal.

Oilers 3, Rangers 2

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Larsson took the shot off a set play from the faceoff. Anton Lander in front provided the screen.

Rangers 3, Oilers 3

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Skjei held the zone and got the puck to Brandon Pirri as Jesper Fast headed to the net. Pirri’s shot was deflected by Fast for the goal.

Rangers 4, Oilers 3

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Mats Zuccarello created this goal with the forecheck and forcing the turnover. Nick Holden’s shot from the point was blocked in front, but Rick Nash was there to bang home the winner.

Rangers 5, Oilers 3

Miller empty netter.

Even Strength Scoring Chances

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The Rangers started real slow here, but took it to Edmonton in the second half of the game. Yet they still found themselves trailing before scoring three straight for the win. I find the scoring chance differential to be interesting, as I didn’t think the Rangers generated that many chances. It didn’t feel like a dominating effort. Maybe that’s because the score was close.

Scoring Chance Locations

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The Rangers got a lot of chances from down low. Considering that after their top pairing, Edmonton is thin on defense, I guess that makes sense.

Another night, another home win for the Rangers. As of this writing, they are tops in the Metro, but the Pens had a late game last night. This wasn’t a complete domination, but was still a solid win. Next up is another good test in Boston.

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