New York Rangers first visit to Seattle a historic one; thanks to Fox and road warrior Shesterkin
The New York Rangers continue to pick up wins away from Madison Square Garden at a record pace.
Adam Fox scored the go-ahead goal with 7:50 remaining as the Blueshirts defeated the host Seattle Kraken 3-1 Sunday night.
It was the team’s 5th straight road win, giving them five in the first nine games of the season for a new franchise records in that span.
Chris Kreider and Barclay Goodrow also tallied for the Rangers, who opened a four-game Western trip. Goaltender Igor Shesterkin made 31 saves as New York won for the sixth time in its past seven games.
Igor Shesterkin is the Road Warrior
The winner came after Shesterkin made a point-blank save on Seattle’s Chris Tanev. The puck got batted up the ice and New York’s Artemi Panarin skated it over the blue line on the left wing. He crossed toward the middle and dropped a pass for Fox, the reigning Norris Trophy winner as the league’s top defenseman. Fox took a wrist shot from between the top of the faceoff circle that eluded a sliding defender and beat Grubauer high to the glove side.
“We can sing his praises for four days,” Fox said. “But I mean, he keeps us in every game and you never feel like you’re out, ever. It’s a tie game, and he keeps it that way. And obviously, we got one, so I can’t say enough good things.”
Goodrow added an empty-net goal at 18:21 of the third, shortly after making a skate save while splayed on the ice in his own crease.
“I thought we had a great first 10 minutes,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said. “That was a great road period in this building, and then the next 30 minutes was awful. And Igor stole the show.”
Shesterkin leads all NHL goalies in road wins with 4 and a 0.99 GAA. Igor also has aa stellar .970 SV% away from the Garden.
Rangers survived in Seattle
The Rangers opened the scoring at 3:38 of the first period. Goodrow gained control of the puck just inside the Rangers’ own blue line and fired a cross-ice pass off the boards on the opposite side of the rink that sent Kreider skating down the right wing at full stride on a two-on-one breakaway with Mika Zibanejad. When Kreider reached the faceoff circle, he snapped off a wrist shot that beat Grubauer high to the glove side. It was Kreider’s seventh goal of the season, which is tied for second in the NHL and two behind Washington’s Alex Ovechkin.
The Kraken tied the score at 13:46 of the second as Eberle surprised Shesterkin with a backhander from the right faceoff dot. Seattle defenseman Adam Larsson lifted the puck deep out of his own zone and it fell at New York’s blue line, where Jaden Schwartz poked it away from the defensemen. Schwartz regained control along the boards and sent a pass to Eberle, who whipped around and sent a backhander through the legs of defenseman Jacob Trouba and over Shesterkin’s catching glove.
“It looked like we stopped playing,” Gallant said about the second period. “Disappointing. Frustrating, but we found a way and Igor was the main reason.”
New York will now head to Vancouver on play the Canucks to continue their hot road start to the new season.
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–Field Level Media contributed to this report
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