New York Rangers dig in to rally by Kings; Kreider scores twice

Anthony Scultore Updated: Nov 23, 2022

The New York Rangers were down less than a minute into the game and looked like they were skating in slush. Before the first period was up, they found themselves in a 2-0 hole on the road to the buzzing Los Angeles.

That all changed when they came out of the locker room for the second period as they stormed back to take a lead and eventually win.

“I thought the first ten (minutes) we were slow,” Gerard Gallant said on the team’s YouTube channel. “After that we played well by being more competitive on the puck and staying with our game. Obviously, that first goal was huge for us to get back into the hockey game.”

Recap: Rangers 5 vs Kings 3

1st Period

The Kings scored on their first shot just 35 seconds in as Kevin Fiala owned the slot area in front of Igor Shesterkin. He outmuscled Jacob Trouba to set an ominous tone to start the game.

Less than six minutes later, a Vincent Trocheck slash put Los Angeles on the power play. Once again, Fiala made a big play by finding Gabriel Vilardi for a redirection at the side of the net that snuck by Shesterkin’s right pad for the 2-0 advantage.

When the first period was over, the Kings outshot the Blueshirts by a 13-6 margin and looked like they may runaway with this contest.

2nd Period

The Rangers started to settle down near the end of the opening period and played with purpose in the middle stanza.

First it was Braden Schneider just 2:22 in as he took a hard point shot that Kings’ goalie Cal Petersen could not pick up. Filip Chytil and Alexis Lafreniere registered the assists on the tally.

Let it fly, B. pic.twitter.com/rF126bKQF1
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 23, 2022

Almost ten minutes later, Trocheck made up for his slashing penalty as he skated his way through the Kings defense and then was the beneficiary of some puck luck.

As he weaved to the front of the net to take a shot, Drew Doughty’s stick sent the puck flipping into the air over Petersen’s shoulder to tie the game. Adam Fox would register the assist to extend his scoring streak to nine games, while his partner Ryan Lindgren got the other helper.

Style for style. pic.twitter.com/EbRF4t62WB
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 23, 2022

The Rangers would take the lead with just 76 seconds left in the period on a delayed penalty call.

Kaapo Kakko parked himself in front of the net to tuck home a loose puck. The other two members of the Kid Line picked up their second assists of the game on the tally. For Kakko, it was his fourth of the season and first in 6 games.

“We found a way to win the game,” Kakko said afterward. “The first ten minutes wasn’t good at all. Then we started play our own game and that’s what we can do.”

No quit in Kaapo. pic.twitter.com/Mm4jlaVjah
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 23, 2022

3rd Period

Things got precarious as the Kings made a hard push to tie it and they eventually did.

Sean Walker notched his first of the season to even the score at just 6:12 into the final frame.

It took all of 54 seconds for two key Rangers to restore the lead off a set play. Mika Zibanejad noticed Chris Kreider streaking down the left side. He fired a puck deep that only his speed winger could get to and Kreider one-timed it off the end boards for the game-winner. Fox recorded his second assist of the night on the play.

“It’s something that he mentioned a little earlier, if you’re coming down the strong side that sometimes there’s space on the short pipe, so I just tried to put it there and there was space on the short side,” Kreider said via NHL.com. “So, good coaching by Mika and a good play by Mika.”

PUCKS 👏 ON 👏 NET 👏. pic.twitter.com/P3Y6ECKC2D
— x – New York Rangers (@NYRangers) November 23, 2022

Krieder scored the insurance marker into an empty net off an unselfish play by Jimmy Vesey with K’Andre Miller registering the last assist of the evening.