Rangers Recall: It’s ‘Goody’ season
The New York Rangers came up with another big win on the road Friday to reduce their magic number to six over the Carolina Hurricanes to win the Metropolitan Division title.
Rallying once again to defeat the Detroit Red Wings by a 4-3 score, the Blueshirts have 52 wins and 108 points to lead the entire National Hockey League. With five games remaining, they have a good chance to surpass franchise records set by the 2014-15 club that posted 53 wins and 113 points.
On Friday, the team was not led by their usual cadre of stars, but by their depth guys. Rookie Will Cuylle opened the scoring, but it was unsung hero Barclay Goodrow doubling his season goal totals with two to spearhead the victory.
“I’d obviously like to do it more often,” Goodrow smiled. “It’s always nice to contribute and help the team in any way to win.”
Related: Will Matt Rempe be the odd man out in the playoffs?
Rangers Recall: It’s ‘Goody’ Season
As the Stanley Cup playoffs draw closer, Barclay Goodrow is starting to find his scoring touch just in time. With three goals in his past four games, he’s revving up for the big games the Rangers signed him to perform in.
Not noted for putting a plethora of pucks into the net, Goodrow is a heart and soul player that would block a shot with a broken leg to win in the Stanley Cup Playoffs. Matter of fact, prior to being traded and subsequently signing with the Rangers, Goodrow won his second of back-to-back Stanley Cup championships with Tampa Bay Lightning in 2021 playing with a broken hand.
“He does a lot of stuff,” coach Peter Laviolette said. “He’s one of our top penalty killers and we have a top penalty kill all year. He blocks shots and scraps. He’s a blood and guts type of guy.”
Coming into the contest Friday, Goodrow had only two goals to his name, so it was a pleasant surprise to see him pop in two more. Reality is that the grizzly veteran actually had just a single goal all season that he recorded on November 20, before breaking the ice again on March 30.
To date, Goodrow has 12 points (four goals, eight assists) in 75 games, which is a far cry from the 32 points he averaged in his first two seasons in New York. However, that’s not why general manager Chris Drury brought him to Broadway.
“He’s a guy that we targeted and obviously went out and made a deal with Tampa early to get a jump on it,” Drury said at the time via NHL.com. “I think he’s pretty versatile. I could see him do all different things for (then Rangers coach) Gerard [Gallant], whether that’s more time in the middle, whether it’s face-offs in the d-zone. But we think he’s got a pretty complete game. He’s going be able to help a lot of different areas.”
Whether or not Laviolette uses him on the wing or at center in the playoffs is irrelevant. What really matters is that Goodrow is one of the few Rangers players on this team to win a Stanley Cup. The only others are Jonathan Quick and Chad Ruhwedel.
Come crunch time, the players will lean on their experience to get them through.
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