Rangers Recap: Rangers Elite

The Rangers went into the holiday break on a high note, and they did it in style. As has been the case for the last couple of seasons, games against the Buffalo Sabres are an adventure. Games are high-scoring, high event, and usually go into overtime. Chris Kreider did his overtime thing, giving Igor Shesterkin’s heroics a big win on the night.

The Sabres threw quite a lot at the Rangers, especially in the second period. The power play also continued to be hot with a great goal by Artemi Panarin from the right circle. You also have to give love to Will Cuylle as he had to fight after a clean hit and took care of business. All in all, a super fun game to watch. I enjoy how much this team wins after losses.

Don’t let the 3 goals against fool you, Igor Shesterkin seems to have found his game. He looks calm, cool, and collected in net. Look no further than the 3 chances the Sabres had in OT, as Igor stood tall on each. Obviously the offense came through, but Igor was a major part in the victory.

Mika Zibanejad had a rough first month or so of the season, and he too seems to have rebounded in the last four weeks. The chemistry with him and Chris Kreider was on full display in OT when Zibanejad got the puck at the point, skated in, patiently waited out Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen, and slid the puck to an open Kreider who had a wide open net to shoot at and win the game.

This was a high IQ play by Mika, and he finally looks like himself again. It’s amazing looking back how the Rangers were able to win so many games at the start of the year when he was having a hard time finding his game.

Chris Kreider is going to end his Rangers tenure as an all-time great in numerous categories, and he finds himself climbing another prestigious list on the charts: Game winning goals. With his OT winner, Kreider got his 41st game winning goal which tied him for 4th all time with Mark Messier. His next game winning goal–whenever that may be–will tie him with Bill Cook for 3rd all time.

The Rangers franchise doesn’t have a lot of “career” Rangers in its history, but Kreider has been a revelation in goal scoring since 2020-2021. Not many players in the history of this game have their career years at the age Kreider is achieving these milestones. The acquisition of Mika Zibanejad obviously paid huge dividends for the Rangers, in that Kreider’s success seemed to really click once he started playing with him on a regular basis.

Thank you for your support of the site, I hope you and your loved ones enjoy the next few days, and Merry Christmas to those who celebrate.