Rangers play ‘complete game’ to beat Columbus after wild win vs. Lightning
The New York Rangers didn’t score nearly as often in their 2-1 shootout win against the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday as they did in beating the Tampa Bay Lightning 7-3 three nights earlier. But coach Mike Sullivan was a lot happier with the way his team played.
“I thought we played a complete game all night long,” Sullivan said. “We forced them to have to play 200 feet. We know that team can score, so making sure that we check as hard as we did was gonna be an important element of the game — and I thought the guys bought into it.”
The win in Tampa was a goal-filled night that saw the Rangers send Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Andrei Vasilevskiy to the bench after 40 minutes. The Blueshirts scored seven goals on 21 shots, a 33.3 shooting percentage that matched a season best.
But it was far from a perfect effort in the eyes of Sullivan, who noted after the game that, “I don’t think we were at our best.”
In comparison, a total of two goals were scored in 65 minutes in Columbus. New York’s Mika Zibanejad and Dmitri Voronkov of the Blue Jackets traded power-play goals, in the second period. Scoring chances were few and far between.
“Everybody played just a solid road game today,” noted captain J.T. Miller, who scored the shootout winner with a lightning-quick shot that beat Columbus goalie Jet Greaves up top. “We took care of the puck. It was kind of a greasy game. It wasn’t really super exciting, I don’t think.”
Columbus entered play with 41 goals at 5-on-5, tied for fifth in the League. But New York held the Blue Jackets scoreless at even strength and surrendered just 25 shots through three periods plus overtime, keeping things manageable for Igor Shesterkin.
“That’s a good team we played against,” Sullivan noted. “They’ve got a lot of young talent, they’re fast, they’ve got a real good transition game, they’re one of the best teams in the League off the rush. We knew that was gonna be an important aspect of the game, and I thought for the most part we played on top of them most of the night.”
“It seems like when we do give something up, it’s for the most part not the big ones,” Miller added. “We’ve done a good job of having a lot of layers and sticks in the middle of the rink.”
MSG analyst Steve Valiquette agreed.
“I think the outcome of the game, it all hinged on how the Rangers protected the inner slot against a very good 5-on-5 team from Columbus,” Valiquette said during the network’s postgame show. “They just didn’t let them get active in there.”
Headed by Kirill Marchenko and Norris Trophy-finalist Zach Werenski, the Blue Jackets rank fourth in expected-goals-for percentage at 5-on-5.
“They’re hard to play against at 5-on-5 because they’re so creative offensively,” Valiquette said. “But if you don’t let them in, you win the hockey game that way. And I thought that’s where the Rangers really won the game — it wasn’t offensively, obviously. It was how stout they were at protecting the house.”
“And I don’t think we compromised offense to do it,” Sullivan added. “We didn’t score a ton of goals tonight, but we generated offense. That’s what we’re looking for. I know the guys will score if they’re generating offense like they are.”
Rangers proving they ‘can win different ways’
In a two-game span, the Rangers have won despite putting two very different products on the ice.
“I just think it’s evidence that we can win different ways,” Sullivan said.
New York’s offensive resurgence, sparked by Vincent Trocheck’s return and Artemi Panarin’s inspired play of late, should help them keep pace in a high-scoring affair. But they’re still more than capable of playing shutdown defense and grinding out narrow victories — as they showed Saturday.
“A sign of a good team is when they have a comfort level playing in a one-goal game, in a low-scoring game,” explained Sullivan. “And I believe that we’re developing that comfort level — when you can play in your endzone and defend and you don’t have to hit the panic button, and you just have a certain level of confidence that everybody’s gonna do their job.”
New York has certainly developed a proficiency for eking out these types of wins on the road. The Rangers continue to boast the NHL’s best record away from home; they are 9-1-1 after their sixth consecutive road victory.
And even the flawed efforts, such as the win against the Lightning, seem easier to stomach when the final score ends in their favor.
“We were playing against Nikita Kucherov and [Brayden Point], they’re gonna get their looks. I don’t wanna overthink it too much,” Miller said. “Finding a way to win on the road against teams in your conference is huge. We’re happy to keep going.”
