It is not easy, as Mr. Richard Starkey once remarked about hockey teams that are starving for goals, and he was sure of that.
But there is no column in the classification representing [corporate name deleted] Difficulty level. Each victory looks just as beautiful as the next, even if achieved in a teeth-pulling competition.
The Rangers then embraced their 3-2 win in Philadelphia on Thursday night that ended a losing streak that had grown to four games, albeit with a losing point thrown into the mix.
It is true that they were forced to the maximum by a team that had not played for 11 days and did not have six regular players on the list of the protocol COVID, but the point is that the Blueshirts persevered and left the other side with a couple of essential points for the the club’s mental health, even though the Flyers tied it up with only 1:14 left in the regulation with the extra striker. The Rangers were not ready to argue.
“I just don’t think we broke,” said Brendan Smith, who had scored the goal from the goal by 2-1 from the goal mouth at 8:21 of the third. “With many younger teams, you will see that they break after a team reaches that equalizer, but it was a good resilience, it was a good effort to respond and not demote us.
“We needed this. We really needed that. We just have to keep pulling the same chain. “
Alexandar Georgiev did not face a high volume of shots, in fact only 22 in the night, but was exceptionally sharp in breaking his own four-game losing streak (0-2-2) while deflecting half a dozen golden opportunities. Artemi Panarin, who had lost the previous two games with an upper body problem, took a tour de force, launching a total of 16 attempts, eight on the net, before becoming the penalty shootout Kaapo Kakko converted from. starting point.
Power play even scored a goal, the first since – checking notes here – Doug Harvey was on point and Camille Henry was preparing in the mouth of the goal for takedowns. Well, wait, no, it hasn’t been six decades, just six games, since February 1st. Colin Blackwell’s high slot redirect defeated Carter Hart at 3:24 of the second period to overturn the Flyers’ opening score in a run in the goal mouth just 59 seconds after the start of the competition.
Check the gunners again: Smith and Blackwell. The Blueshirts have scored six goals in their last five games. Two from Blackwell, one from Smith, one from Kevin Rooney, one from Julien Gauthier (scratched on Thursday) and one from Pavel Buchnevich. This does not represent a plan for Rangers’ success. Even so, the need to extrapolate is diminished by the importance of this victory, which, at least temporarily, has revived good feelings.
“I am very proud,” said coach David Quinn. “This was a difficult match for us. Losing can wear you out. I don’t care … how beautiful it looked or what. I don’t care how it came about, but we needed two points and we won two points and that was all that mattered ”.
We said that the Flyers were a sold out club. The fact is that Rangers had a defense that included guys who were sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth in the depth table when the season started: Smith, Jack Johnson, Anthony Bitetto and Libor Hajek. All were needed in the absences of K’Andre Miller (removed for a second consecutive game with a problem with his upper body), Jacob Trouba (missing the first with a broken thumb who suffered blocking a kick on Tuesday) and Tony DeAngelo (no explanation needed).
Smith resented it when it was suggested that the Rangers had made an “improvised defense” and he probably had every right. But still, it was Adam Fox (30:17 ice on his career record) and Ryan Lindgren (23:39) at the top, with Johnson-Smith and Bitetto-Hajek below.
“So what happens is that when the guys have a chance to get in there, you want to prove yourself and stay in the lineup. It has been like this for years and years, ”said Smith. “I know you said ‘improvised’, but everyone is trying to improve and working hard to get and keep this job.
“For us, it wasn’t really like trying to keep things simple. We want to play a simpler game and put discs on the net and help our attackers. I don’t like the whole improvised thing, but I like how we respond. I thought we played well as D-corps. “
Smith cited co-workers Johnson, Bitetto and Hajek for their strong game before referring to Fox and Lindgren as Batman and Robin.
Holy improvisation, the Rangers won a game. It may not have been pretty and it wasn’t easy, but they certainly deserved it.