With the Sabers staggering taking their skid of 13 lost games to the Garden on Monday night, there have been cases of Rangers playing against their opponents as they usually do this season.
However, the Blueshirts continued to connect the points in the attack and achieved a 5-3 victory, sending the Sabers on their way with yet another defeat to endure.
There was a stark need for familiarity across the team to start the season, and it seems that Rangers are starting to establish that. Because in the last six games, Rangers have beaten their opponents by 26-11 – including 18-6 in the last four.
“I think the biggest reason why the offense is coming is [Mika] Zibanejad, now you have this line playing like they did last year and they will contribute, ”said coach Kris Knoblauch of the top line, who combined two goals and two assists. “I think that [Ryan] Strome, [Artemi] Panarin, throughout the year, [have been] pretty consistent.
“But now with Zibanejad playing as well as with [Chris] Kreider and [Pavel Buchnevich], they are one of the best lines in the league now. “
Since the game of strength, penalty, uniform strength and five against three, Rangers have recently found ways to put the puck on the back of the net. And there will be another offensive weapon in his arsenal soon, with Vitali Kravtsov expected to join the team on Tuesday if he passes the rest of the NHL’s COVID-19 protocols.
While their attack is revitalized, the Rangers are still caught off guard by coming out of the breaks. The Sabers scored their three goals in the first five minutes of the second and third periods.
Buffalo scored two goals at the start of the third to draw 3-3, but the Rangers could count on the players who were – and should be – leading their attack after struggling to do so earlier in the season. Behind two goals by Kreider and two goals by Kaapo Kakko, including an empty ball, Rangers prevailed.
“I think we have made things a little too complicated, we are trying to do a little too much and obviously this cannot happen,” said Zibanejad of the team’s slow starts in the last two periods. “Even after nothing, I think [goaltender] Keith [Kinkaid] saves us and keeps us in this game and great news for him. Obviously, it has to be much better, but we came out of this with two points and we are happy with that. “
Adam Fox, skating in his 100th game with Rangers, recorded a goal and two assists – including one on Kreider’s green score at 5:47 of the third. And Panarin was Panarin, recording a night of three assists.
With just 2:53 left, Julien Gauthier hit Sabers goalkeeper Carter Hutton, sending him into the locker room with his left leg. As a result, Dustin Tokarski – who had a one-year cameo with the Rangers’ AHL affiliate in 2018-19 – filled his first NHL appearance since October 8, 2016.
So when Rasmus Asplund gave Buffalo a 1-0 lead at 3:52 of the second, the possibility of losing to a Sabers team that is in the hold not only from the East, but from the entire NHL – and now without his starting goalkeeper – must have awakened the Blueshirts. They quickly turned and scored three consecutive goals to take a 3-1 lead in the final 20 minutes.
The difference between Rangers at the start of the season and the Rangers who won on Monday was the offensive chemistry that allowed them.