Key Rangers takeaways after J.T. Miller OT goal caps 4-3 comeback win vs. Oilers
The New York Rangers showed tremendous resilience in securing their first real signature victory of the season Thursday night at Rogers Arena. They erased a late two-goal deficit and rallied past the Edmonton Oilers on J.T. Miller’s overtime goal for a thrilling 4-3 road win.
It wasn’t their best-played game start to finish. But the good far outweighed the bad, and the effort and result helped the Rangers further distance themselves from last season’s failures.
“That’s just a big team win, something that we can really build on going forward,” Miller stated afterward.
Miller capped off the gut-check win at 2:48 of overtime, driving to the net to beat Oilers goalie Stuart Skinner far side under the right arm after he danced past Leon Draisaitl to enter the offensive zone cleanly. It was Miller’s third goal of the season — and New York’s first overtime win in three tries.
The Rangers (5-5-2) closed an eventful first month of the season with their second straight win after a pair of ugly losses to the bottom-feeding San Jose Sharks and Calgary Flames.
Braden Schneider and Taylor Raddysh each scored in the third period for the Rangers, who are 5-1-1 on the road to start the season. Jonny Brodzinski also scored and Igor Shesterkin finished with 33 saves, including three in overtime.
Skinner, who shut out the Rangers 2-0 earlier in the month at Madison Square Garden, made 30 saves. Darnell Nurse recorded the fourth two-goal game of his career and Matt Savoie scored his first NHL goal for the Oilers. Connor McDavid (no points) and Draisaitl (one assist) were largely held in check by the Rangers.
Trailing 3-1, the Rangers scored twice in less than four minutes to pull even midway through the third period. Schneider buried a loose puck from the slot at 8:18, and Raddysh wired his team-leading fifth goal glove-side past Skinner at 12:04.
Just as they did in a 2-0 win against the Vancouver Canucks two nights earlier, the Rangers got the start they wanted Thursday in Edmonton. Brodzinski scored his first goal of the season on a breakaway just 5:44 into the first period to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
The 32-year-old forward intercepted an Evan Bouchard cross-ice pass at the Rangers blue line and took off the other way, roofing a backhand shot past Skinner. On the very next shift, Skinner was called on to make a sharp save on Alexis Lafreniere’s blast from the slot. And the Oilers quickly rewarded their goaltender for that clutch stop.
Nurse beat Shesterkin between the pads with a one-timer from the right circle at 6:51. Instead of it being 2-0 Rangers, the game was tied 1-1.
The teams traded chances for the rest of the first period and into the second, but Shesterkin and Skinner each was sharp. The Rangers outshot the Oilers 15-10 in the first period and had a 66.12 expected goals percentage, per Natural Stat Trick. But the Oilers began to tilt the ice in their favor late in the period and to start the next one.
They cashed in at the very end of their first power play, when Adam Henrique crashed the net chasing his own rebound and chipped his second attempt off the skate of Savoie and over the goal line at 8:48.
Just 1:36 later, Nurse scored a fluky goal to make it 3-1 Oilers. In deep on left wing, the Oilers defenseman sent a quick, bad-angle shot towards Shesterkin, who thought he squeezed the puck between his left arm and pad. However, it was determined on video review that part of his body slid over the goal line along with the puck, and the Rangers were down two.
But the visitors didn’t fold against the two-time Stanley Cup runners-up. The Rangers had a huge successful penalty kill to start the third period, and then took it to the Oilers before the home team finally coughed up its two-goal lead.
The Rangers then closed the period and began overtime by killing off a Mika Zibanejad high-sticking minor. That set the stage for Miller’s heroics to cap a massive comeback victory on the road.
Key takeaways from Rangers’ thrilling 4-3 OT win against Oilers
Sully’s assist
For the record, Mike Sullivan totaled 82 assists in 709 games playing in the NHL. Though he didn’t lace up the skates Thursday, the Rangers coach deserves a major assist in the their biggest win of the season to date.
Down two and outplayed in the second period, Sullivan juggled his top-three line combinations. And each of the new lines responded in the third period, sending wave after wave of pressure at the Oilers, forcing them to crumble in the end.
Sullivan loaded up the top line with Miller between Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin. Rookie Noah Laba, who had a terrific night, moved up and centered Lafreniere and Will Cuylle. That line set up the Schneider goal, with Cuylle — a force all game — driving hard to the net before the puck was poked off his stick and back to the defenseman, who scored to make it 3-2.
Juuso Parssinen slid over to center from the wing on the third line with Conor Sheary and Raddysh. It was Sheary who set up Raddysh for the game-tying goal.
“The third period was great,” Miller said. “Obviously, changed the lines up a little bit, trying to spark something. We just had so many guys contribute.”
Depth scoring not a surprise to Rangers
Miller scored the game-winner, and it was a beauty, a real goal scorer’s goal. And Panarin, ZIbanejad and Lafreniere had plenty of good looks again. But they also failed to dent the back of the net again.
So, it was Schneider, a defenseman, and a pair of bottom-six forwards who contributed clutch goals in this one. And that shouldn’t be a surprise. Of the 28 goals scored in 12 games by the Rangers, six are by defensemen, and 11 of the remaining 22 scored by forwards — half — are from bottom-six players. One of them, Raddysh, has more goals than any other player on the team.
It’s a bit of an indictment of the top offensive threats in the Rangers lineup. But it’s also a good sign that the depth scoring is there when needed, beacause odds are Panarin and Co. are going to fill the net at some point this season.
Igor Shesterkin perseveres
Shesterkin allowed 11 goals in his previous two starts, and likely wasn’t thrilled with the three he surrendered Thursday. He wasn’t set on Nurse’s first goal; left the rebound for the Oilers to score their second goal, by Savoie; and that other goal by Nurse was … bizarre, though perhaps avoidable.
Nonetheless, Shesterkin made a slew of brilliant saves, and clutch ones, too, to backstop this victory. As mentally tough a goalie as there is in the NHL, Shesterkin persevered. He made the biggest save of the game, robbing Draisaitl with a lunging stop at 10:35 of the third period, with the Rangers down 3-2. Less than two minutes later, Raddysh tied the game.
And that final penalty kill? How about Shesterkin’s incredible stop early on overtime to deny McDavid?
There were plenty other highlights throughout the roughly 63 minutes he played Thursday. But when he absolutely couldn’t allow another goal, Shesterkin didn’t. that’s the difference between the Rangers earning two points instead of one, or not even picking up that single point.
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