Rangers Defuel Oilers, Finally Solve Scrivens.
Rangers caught fire in Oiler country on Sunday night, defeating the Edmonton Oilers 5-0 in a game that was never in doubt.The Rangers’ top players came to play. New York scored a power play goal and two shorthanded goals that added up to a rather dominating performance. Cam Talbot was never really tested in this game, but when called upon, he was there to shut the door.
Ben Scrivens started the game well, and it seemed the Rangers would be in for another difficult night. That, would soon change. At 16:30 of the 1st period, Mats Zuccarello, who hadn’t scored since January 26th, deflected an Anton Stralman point shot that fluttered over the head of Ben Scrivens, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The Rangers could have had three goals in that 1st period, but Scrivens was solid.
Shortly into the 2nd period, the Rangers power play would get on the board in a fluky way. Derick Brassard attempted a pass down-low to Benoit Pouliot that deflected and beat Scrivens over his left shoulder. The Rangers would add another fluky goal a little under five minutes later when Nash banked it off of Scrivens and into the net.
Rick Nash and Derek Stepan weren’t done for the night. Three minutes later, while killing a penalty, Derek Stepan chipped the puck by Justin Schultz and was joined on the rush by Nash. The big man received the pass and drilled home a stick-side bullet to make it 4-0 Rangers. The Blueshirts were very much on their way to an easy two points in the standings.
The Rangers would pad the stat line with another goal 3:49 into the 3rd period. Marc Staal broke up a play in the neutral zone that leads to a 2 on 1. Stepan fights off three players, dishes the puck to Zuccarello who rifles a shot over the glove of Scrivens for a 5-0 Rangers lead and their second shorthanded goal of the game.
Cam Talbot recorded his 3rd shutout of the season in a gem of a team performance. FullTilt Forecast was for a 4-1 win, but 5-0 was even better than that. The Rangers are back in action Tuesday night in Vancouver. NY needs to bring the same defensive prowess and hunger to that contest as well.
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