Rangers goal breakdown: Defensive defensemen provide the offense

The Rangers needed to rebound, and rebound they did. But it wasn’t in the way you expected. Jarred Tinordi got the game winner. Yes. Jarred Tinordi got the game winner. Ryan Lindgren got the insurance tally. You can’t make this stuff up. But you also can’t complain, as the Rangers righted the ship. As important as even strength play is, halting losing streaks before they happen is equally important.

The Rangers looked like they controlled the game, albeit with a lapse in the second period. The third though, wow what a period. The Rangers really owned it, and that’s when they really stuck it to the Ducks. That’s the kind of finish you need from a team bound for the playoffs.

That said, even strength was close enough to even, with special teams again making the difference for the Rangers. When the refs swallow whistles in April, May, and June, the Rangers will be exploited.

Ducks 1, Rangers 0 – Turnovers

K’Andre Miller just whiffed on the pass. There’s not much else here. Teams can’t recover on a turnover like that.

Rangers 1, Ducks 0 – Crash the net

Crashing the net gets you goals and more sustained offense. That was three shot attempts, and the third wound up in the net off Mika Zibanejad’s stick.

Rangers 2, Ducks 1 – Tinordi

Jarred Tinordi scored. That’s all I got.

Rangers 3, Ducks 1 – Winning faceoffs works

A faceoff win on the powerplay, shocker. Tim Gettinger in front, and Stolarz barely saw it.

Rangers 4, Ducks 1 – Lindgren jack in the box

Right out of the box and into the empty net.

Game Flow

The Rangers disappeared in the second period, which seems to be a trend. But they also owned the first and the third. We went into this knowing Anaheim wasn’t that good, and the Rangers controlled the majority of the game. They need to do this against the good teams too.

(no shot heatmap – Natural Stat Trick is down)

The Rangers needed this win, not in the playoffs sense, but in the righting the ship sense. They hadn’t been playing well, but also weren’t losing games regularly. The latter is nice, but you need good process. This was a good process game while missing a good chunk of players. Now onto the Kings and Sharks to close out the Cali road trip.