Courtesy @nyrangers

The Rangers beat Florida last night in overtime, racking up their third win in a row and second straight in overtime. This week has been a breakout from the October doldrums, and a reason for hope in Rangerstown. These are the Rangers we have been waiting to see.

There were lots of spots of optimism in the game last night, including the power play and getting goals from different sources. The defense accounted for three of the five goals (Shattenkirk 2, Holden) and Rick Nash is finally shaking the monkey off his back, netting one goal and one heck of a performance.

Some key takeaways from last night’s game:

  • The team looked great, and has all week, while staying firmly planted in the ground. They don’t look perfect, and they aren’t: but that’s okay.
  • The Panthers’ first goal saw Marc Staal and Steven Kampfer paired together, and Paul Carey on the ice. Carey was in for Boo Nieves, who didn’t get a flu shot.
  • Carey only played 8:35, and didn’t see a shift after the Panthers scored their third goal at 8:45 in the third period. Kampfer, who played 14:32, also didn’t see a shift for the last 11+ minutes of the game.
  • This is good news to those worried about AV’s stubbornness. He seemed to adjust in this game, a new situation that could be useful for the Rangers in the future.
  • Kevin Shattenkirk, whose defensive gaffe led directly to the second goal, was given the chance to get right back on the ice, which paid off. Shattenkirk scored the Rangers’ second goal 4 and a half minutes later, and then the most important goal of the game: the game winner in overtime.
  • Speaking of goals, the Panthers’ fourth goal, scored by Vincent Trocheck, was a beauty. Maybe this is one that Henrik Lundqvist is supposed to get, but it certainly looked pretty to me:

 

  • The Rangers overall looked like a more competent, awake team. The eye test and advanced stats agree: this was an evenly played game, a good win for the team.

The Rangers edged out the Panthers in both score-adjusted 5v5 corsi and scoring chances, as shown below courtesy of hockeystats:

All in all, this was the cherry on top of a much needed week of wins for the Rangers. Who knows, maybe the Rangers read the cause for optimism earlier in the week.

Who’s been your favorite Rangers performer this week?

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