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It was a throwback to one of those old Patrick Division playoff games, in which opponents went back to back through four sets of games from the first two rounds.
Here’s the Rangers and Capitals battling it out in Washington on Saturday, with no space allowed and no shift given one night after the Capitals won in a similar type of pull-pull by force of two late strikes from the l incomparable Alex Ovechkin.
Defeat the Blueshirts this way once, in honor of the Capitals. Beat them twice this way in 27 hours, well, not on interim head coach Kris Knoblauch’s watch.
Or, for that matter, on Mika Zibanejad.
For it was a resurrected Zibanejad who made a brilliant play as he chased down Brendan Dillon, hacking the defenseman’s stick before pushing it back from the puck before retrieving it for his and whipping a short side riser past Ilya Samsonov at 17. : 28 of the third. period to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead in a game they salted 3-1, assisted by Brett Howden’s empty net.
It was the type of elite job that Zibanejad and the Blueshirts lived on last season, when a late charge drew an invitation to the 24-team cotillion under the bubble. Music is dead in Toronto, but the team starts humming again.
“I think they are very committed. I think they feel they have the opportunity to make the playoffs and they have to play well throughout the home stretch, ”said Knoblauch, now 2-1 behind the bench while replacing David. Quinn, who will continue to be absent from the team in the COVID-19 protocol at least until Friday. “I think there’s also a certain belief that they can play like they did in the second half of last year when they had a good shot.”
Keith Kinkaid was outstanding at net, ready and in total command when he faced the few flurries that his team’s five-man defense allowed. The commitment to playing through the body and being on the right side of the puck was evident. So was the Rangers’ dedication to avoiding rollovers or sloppy puck handling in critical areas of the ice. They gave almost nothing for free.
“I thought we were smart with the puck,” Zibanejad said. “It’s a very good team out of the race, and we just had to make sure we didn’t feed their offense.
“Everyone came back. Everyone has played hard and contributed in different ways and I think that’s what we’ve been doing obviously since Philly [9-0] big win and in the last two games too. We’ve been pretty good. “
The defense and goalkeepers were strong, limiting Washington to three goals in 120 minutes, all pushed out of the slot. But one goal wasn’t enough to win on Friday, and the lone goal deposited in the bank by Pavel Buchnevich at 5:49 pm of the first period on Saturday for a 1-0 lead was not going to be enough once John Carlson marked. a swirling backhand to tie it at 5:55 of the third period.
Knoblauch, who had (or was caught) his fourth row against Ovechkin’s unit for the Great Eight’s two goals on Friday, cut his bench in it and rode his horses – or Quinn’s – in the home straight. It wasn’t a cookie-cutter job behind the bench.
Alexis Lafrenière clocked a 34-second quarterback in the 12:45 p.m. final and finished with a season low of 7:53. Filip Chytil got two teams worth 1:10 in the 12:45 final. Brendan Lemieux did not get on the ice in the 9:10 final. Libor Hajek sat for the final at 11:48 am and Brendan Smith was out for the final at 8:34 am as the club faced four defenders in tight time.
Meanwhile, Adam Fox played 5:12 of the 9:55 final and played 10:17 in the third period for a match total of 28:00. Zibanejad was on 2:48 of the 5:31 final for a sum of 21:10. Zibanejad won the face-off to score Buchnevich’s goal in the first half, then blocked shots before taking the winner.
“We took out the puck and I was just looking for their D and I was trying to stay on him,” said Zibanejad, who has 10 points (4-6) in the last five games. “I had a push, I don’t know if he got caught in a rut or something, he fell, and I was able to grab the puck and try to net it. He walked in, so that’s nice. “It’s obviously nice to be able to contribute offensively. That’s what is expected of me, obviously, but I’ve said it before, I’ve been feeling pretty good the last few weeks. I feel like myself again.
The Rangers also look a little more chic.
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