Rangers start Oil drought in Edmonton with huge comeback win

The NY Rangers started an Oil drought in Edmonton with a huge come from behind shootout win against the Oilers. This Rangers team is never out of a game and last night just might have been one of their top three wins of the entire season. After going down 4-1 by the end of the first period, this team would embody the spirit of “No Quit in New York” and rally to win the game in a pulse-pounding six-round shootout. These are the types of wins you dream about as both a fan to watch it play out and a player to be a part of.

Just 7:52 into the game, 2011 first overall pick Ryan Nugent-Hopkins would crack open the scoring by putting home a juicy rebound in front of the Rangers net. It was a power-play goal and a little known player by the name of Connor McDavid got his 100th point of the season with the assist. Edmonton isn’t a team you want to put out on the power-play and the Rangers learned their lesson early in this one.

The first period would continue to be absolutely brutal for the Rangers. At 12:11, Tyson Barrie would sneak in from the point and rip a shot off a rebound past Igor Shesterkin for a 2-0 lead. Just 19 seconds later, the Oilers would strike yet again to build their lead to 3-0. Derek Ryan would take a pass from between the circles and shoot the puck past Shesterkin from the right circle.

The Rangers seemingly had no life in them but Chris Kreider and the magic of the Rangers power-play would soon come to life. At 13:36 of the first, Kreider would finish off a gorgeous passing sequence between himself, Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad. Panarin from the right wing dished a cross-ice pass to Zibanejad who slipped a one-touch pass to Kreider in front of the net. It was a thing of beauty. Our own Johnluke Chaparro has his own YouTube channel with Rangers highlights, watch the whole thing here.

The Rangers had a pulse. The Oilers had one more big push in the first and Leon Draisaitl would cash in on the powerplay at 18:27 to close out the period. McDavid would fire a pass to Draisaitl who one-timed a big shot past Shesterkin. The Rangers would go into the locker room at a 4-1 deficit. They had some soul searching to do. They knew they couldn’t let the Oilers score again.

The second period, while much less action happened in terms of goals, was an important period for the Rangers. They seemed to really find their legs and were starting to tilt the ice back in their favor. At 6:26 into the period, Kreider would score his second of the game after getting a piece of his own rebound shot and putting it past Jack Campbell. It was the only goal of the second period, setting up a huge showdown in the third.

Just 1:36 into the third, the almighty Kid Line made a huge play once again and proved just how valuable they are to the New York Rangers club. Right off the faceoff, Kaapo Kakko stripped an Edmonton player of the puck, and threaded a perfect pass to a streaking Alexis Lafreniere who buried a shot to cut the Oilers lead to just one goal.

Chytil and Kakko have been getting most of the attention on the kid line recently but at the end of the day, Laf is just as important of a contributor. Zibanejad would get on the score sheet next, when he lasered a shot from the top of the circles past Campbell to tie the game. The building was silent, the stage was now set for the comeback of the season.

Overtime would come and go with no goals scored although there was fantastic play throughout. Finally, to end the six round shootout, Alexis Lafreniere used a great backhand deke and shot to beat Campbell and give the Rangers the best comeback with of the season and possible top thee game of the season overall.