3 Rangers takeaways from 5-3 comeback win in Utah
The New York Rangers rebounded multiple times from multiple things Thursday. As a result, they pocketed a 5-3 comeback win against the Utah Hockey Club, and flew back to New York having taken five of a possible six points on their Western road trip.
The Rangers (21-20-3) took a page out of their resilient past from last season, erasing three one-goal deficits before scoring three unanswered goals in the third period to secure a stirring road victory. They also showed the ability to bounce back from a bitter 3-2 overtime loss to the Colorado Avalanche on Tuesday, after blowing a late third-period lead.
Artemi Panarin scored twice, Reilly Smith potted a shortie that tied the game less than a minute into the third period, Chris Kreider scored the game-winner, Arthur Kaliyev got his first goal with the Rangers, Igor Shesterkin upped his record to 3-0-1 since coming off the IR and Sam Carrick had another impactful night with two assists.
Things are finally headed in the right direction for the Rangers. They have points in six straight games (4-0-2) and one regulation loss in the New Year (5-1-2). They moved past the Pittsburgh Penguins into 13th place in the Eastern Conference and trail the Boston Bruins by four points for the second wild card in the conference.
Next up is a big weekend with games on back-to-back nights against two of the teams ahead of them in the East, the Columbus Blue Jackets on Saturday and the Montreal Canadiens on Sunday.
Related: Rangers first-round bust Vitali Kravtsov breaking out in KHL
3 takeaways from Rangers 5-3 road win against Utah
Here are three takeaways from the win Thursday.
1. Trademark Rangers resolve returns
Remember “No Quit in New York”? That marketing slogan took on real-life meaning for the 2023-24 Rangers, who led the NHL in comeback wins last season en-route to snagging the Presidents’ Trophy and setting franchise records with 55 wins and 114 points.
This season? Not so much. That is until Thursday night. The Rangers won for the first time when trailing after two periods this season (1-17-1) with a dominating third period in Utah. They stayed close through a so-so 40 minutes of play, never trailing by more than one despite being out-chanced 19-11 (and 7-2 in high-danger opportunities), per Natural Stat Trick.
Then in the third, the Rangers showed a struggling team (Utah is 2-8-2 in its past 12 games) who’s boss. Smith’s short-handed tracer completely deflated the home team and the Rangers went on to finish the job, Shesterkin barely tested in the final period.
2. Stars shine, even in Sam’s world
Carrick continues to roll along on a blissful New Year’s run. The Rangers fourth-line center had two more points, assisting on Kreider’s game-winning goal and Panarin’s empty-netter. That’s consecutive two-point games for the 32-year-old, who has five points (two goals, three assists) in his past four games. Though without a goal Thursday, Carrick also has three goals in seven games after starting the season with one in 37.
So, yeah, this is Sam’s world and we’re just a part of it. But he did get some big-time help from some Rangers stars in Utah. Panarin was flying, the most noticeable he’s been in a while. He scored twice, including a first-period snipe that tied the game 1-1 at 3:42. He continued buzzing throughout, even when the Rangers had gone dormant offensively in a quiet second period.
In fact, during a 5-on-3 power play in the second, Panarin had New York’s only shot on goal, and also had a couple good scoring chances through traffic that he shot wide. Panarin now has a team-high 19 goals, only one of which came in the previous eight games.
Then Kreider wristed his 14th into the cage off a Carrick face-off win at 10:22 of the third period. And though he didn’t score, Alexis Lafreniere had four shots on goal, nine shot attempts and a neat assist on Panarin’s first goal. So, the stars were there to support the new fourth-line hero.
3. It wasn’t all great
This was a good win for the Rangers and a much-needed two points, especially after that loss in Denver on Tuesday. But it wasn’t an elite 60-minute performance by the Rangers. They allowed a goal 61 seconds into the game. They trailed three times. They had an xGF at 5v5 in the first period of 29.46 percent. They managed six shots on goal in the second period. There were times they could not keep up with Utah’s speed. They didn’t test a shaky Karel Vejmelka nearly often enough, even as he let pucks leak through him left and right.
Then there was Mika Zibanejad. His turnover in the neutral zone set Utah up to score the game-opening goal. He was on ice for each of Utah’s three goals, including Logan Cooley’s power-play goal that made it 3-2 Utah in the second period when Zibanejad was caught out of position. He didn’t record a shot on goal and had just one attempt.
And what of Matt Rempe? Perhaps the towering forward was hurt, maybe benched. Who Knows? But Rempe logged 5:33 TOI over eight shifts. He didn’t play in the third period nor take a shift after the 15:10 mark of the second period.
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