chris kreider

The Rangers survived an ugly first to respond in kind during the second, only to endure a chaotic third where they pulled it out with less than a minute to go. Dave left the keys to the stats guy who doesn’t watch the games, so let’s have it at!

  • Pregaming this one with part of the The Waterboy. Given the events of Tuesday I would not be surprised if we saw a full-on double-leg kick. Can’t hold anything back, Brent!
  • Joe Micheletti states that Strome has grown up and found his game while a graphic of his stats, including shooting percentage (19.7 with NYR v. 8.5 with NYR/EDM), is shown. Oh look my beer is done.
  • Bit of a haywire start, seems loud in the old barn, even though nothing has really happened.
  • Four minutes in, Georgiev with some great saves. There hasn’t been a clean breakout by NYR yet.
  • As soon as I type that, clean breakout leads to a chance with Strome getting taken down by Cizikas. PP upcoming – nothing special comes of it.
  • Skjei and Trouba go back to get a dump in on an NYI change. Trouba tries to hop out in front only to find Skjei and Komarov. When you’re within 2-5 feet of your D-partner it’s usually not good. Georgiev covers.
  • Chtyil with a slick feed out front to Howden who tries to stretch left to right on his backhand, pad save. First pure Grade A chance of the night for NYR.
  • Georgiev big save on a half-backdoor feed to Eberle who cradled and shot. Showcase time for Georige, baby!
  • Islanders simply look more alive tonight, much less space for NYR compared to Tuesday. We’re 10 minutes in and there’s been 700 whistles, luckily I’ve got that extra hour being in Chicago.
  • After some board play Smith tries to go across to Staal but misses. Staal goes to gap up and gets walked (shocker!) but also gets a good hack in on the NYI player. PK upcoming – one good chance, but nothing much overall.
  • Brendan Smith, veteran 4th line winger, looking alright playing Defense on the PK. Interesting usage.
  • 16 minutes in and the NYI top-six is outplaying the NYR top-six. Howden-Chytil-Kakko is the only line that’s really created anything at 5v5.
  • Just as I was thinking the numbers are probably going to look ugly, Trouba fails to get to a puck first and Kuhnhackl finds Johnston who touch passes it behind himself into the slot (yes, that was intentional for sure) while Josh Bailey finishes. 1-0 NYI, and deserved at this point.
  • Last shift of the period, K-Z-B & Lindgren-Fox, is at least encouraging. Need to wake up in the 2nd.
  • NUMBERS CHECK (via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted):
    • Corsi: 68% NYI / Shots: 83% NYI
    • Scoring Chances: 66% NYI / Expected Goals: 82% NYI
    • Second half of the period was ugly for NYR – checks out!
    • NYR positives: Fox is the only one above 50% Expected Goals, of course. Georgiev is the only other notable.
  • Howden-Chytil-Kakko again with a strong shift. Much needed to start the period.
  • Not going to lie, half-watched the first five minutes of the second here as I was cooking dinner. Looks like NYR is more settled and Sam just said shots are 5-0 NYR. Zibanejad then makes a breakaway nearly out of nothing, PP upcoming – some ok movement, but nothing wild.
  • Chytil is ready to 2C whenever they need him to (not that I want the lines changed). Outskated Eberle rounding his own net and then swung wide, only to toss it to the middle as the Defender gaps up and pinches him off. Just so smooth.
  • Speaking of the forwards lines, Quinn and Oliver have gone to the blender. Panarin is now with Kreider and Zibanejad. The kid line follows, so we’ll see what sticks.
  • Panarin double shifts and is back with Strome-Fast, meaning we could have a Buchnevich benching.
  • Mayfield takes down Panarin on a pinch, PP upcoming. DeAngelo gets a shot through and it’s trickling towards the line, but no good. Good PP so far. Replay incoming: THAT MIGHT BE A GOAL (from the overhead) … Second look: yeah that appears to be in, white ice and all. ANDDD WE’VE GOT A GOOD HOCKEY GOAL. 1-1 game, Mika Zibanejad ties it.
  • Lindgren misses a pinch and Fox has to go far side to get a puck into the NYR zone. Barzal leans into Fox and goes down, which will get called more often than not. PK upcoming – got away with it on the PK, but it was a good mix of NYI controlling and NYR deflecting passes.
  • Lindgren hammers Eberle from behind into the post during a goalmouth scramble (Staal struggling with Lee), another PK upcoming.
  • If I was a trade hypothetical guy I’d be searching Twitter to see which scouts are at this game because it’d be convenient for NYR if they were there to see Georgiev… impeccable game thus far.
  • A better period, but the penalties killed the 5v5 momentum for NYR. I’m a little worried they won’t be able to recapture that, but we’ll see.
  • So it hasn’t been as apparent because of the lack of 5v5 play, but I’ve now noticed an instance with each D-pair where an effort is made to gap-up heading into the grey zone (5 feet on either side of the blue line) as opposed to just giving up the line. Quinn & Ruff can claim that the message is “finally getting through” all they want – it’s a concept taught starting at the pee-wee level.
  • NUMBERS CHECK (for the 2nd period only, via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted):
    • Corsi: 61% NYR / Shots: 70% NYR
    • Scoring Chances: 76% NYR / Expected Goals: 64% NYR
    • NYR dominated the first 12-13 minutes, but the last few got sketchy.
    • NYR positives: K-Z-B came alive that period and Kakko’s numbers look decent. Fox is still leading the way on Defense.
  • Moving to Pinot Noir for the third after a couple of beers, need to change up the vibe.
  • DeAngelo gets his stick knocked out of his hands but can’t let it go, takes an unnecessary penalty. PK upcoming.
  • HOOOOOO BOY … PK1 gets caught out there for the full two minutes, including a goal-line walk off the crossbar from Barzal. Lindgren chops it out and DeAngelo, coming out of the box, goes short side top shelf on a 2 on 1 with Fast. 2-1 Rangers, Tony makes up for the penalty.
  • Lol, some more choppy 5v5 play (the theme of this game) and Pulock closes his hand on a puck in the air, delay of game. PP upcoming – nothing comes of it.
  • I’m a Trouba defender for the most part, but he’s gotta stop blasting one timers into the shin pads of forwards, especially on the PP.
  • After a minute of 5v5 play in NYR’s favor (P-S-F & K-Z-B), the latter get stuck and Georgiev makes two great saves. I’m very pleased Quinn & Oliver didn’t actually go to the blender earlier. Ten minutes to go.
  • Panarin walks Cizikias and gets called for a dive. I mean, I can see it, but yikes.
  • NYI gets a gift. Odd bounce off the boards and Georgiev misses it on the way back into the slot. Beauvillier barely moves it towards the five hole and it slides in, 2-2 tie.
  • Chytil with another low-key great play – gapping up Barzal after he circles back and tries to enter the zone, and then straight strips him. Zibanejad-Chytil for life.
  • Kreider dips the shoulder and gets bumped by Leddy (or someone) and bowls over Varlamov. PK upcoming. Decent to good NYI PP, but the NYR PK only bends and doesn’t break. Georgiev has been so good tonight.
  • So after 3-5 minutes of bland 5v5 play, Brassard goes for the three-of-a-kind cross checks on Fast to give NYR a PP with 53 seconds to go.
  • IT’S A POWERPLAY GOAL! Panarin first head shakes Cizikas coming up through the neutral. Then Zibanejad is found in the middle and Kreider buries a backdoor rebound. 3-2 NYR with 28 ticks left.
  • Rangers Win! One last half chance, but it’s cleared and the clock hits zero. My god I can’t do this very often.
  • NUMBERS CHECK (full game, via Natural Stat Trick, 5v5, Score & Venue Adjusted):
    • Corsi: 52% NYI / Shots: 60% NYI
    • Scoring Chances: 52% NYR / Expected Goals: 61% NYI (yes, NYI)
    • NYR barely had the edge in the third, and won it on the special teams.
    • NYR positives: the kid line, K-Z-B, DeAngelo, and Fox all had nights. Skjei-Trouba with one to forget.

Sorry all – this ended up being a long one!

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