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Filip Chytil got 10:02 of ice time, Alexis Lafreniere 8:11 and Julien Gauthier 7:16, meaning that the collective sum of 25:29 for the Rangers third row was seven seconds more than what Mika Zibanejad had for himself one evening. while three of the top six had season totals and two others had their second best ice time of the season.
Can you say, run to the playoffs?
David Quinn certainly can.
“We’re in a position where it’s all about winning, we want to win hockey games and that’s kind of where we’re at,” Rangers head coach said after Zibanejad’s strike at 4. 32 hours of overtime ended Thursday’s 3-2 win. in Buffalo, a competition his team had dominated in the last 40 minutes of regulation. “At the end of the day, that’s what it is.
“We play in the National Hockey League and we want to win hockey games and we’ve found a way to get two points, which, when you’re so deep in the season, is all that matters.
It might be an optical illusion, with the Bruins holding three games in hand, but the Blueshirts kind of slipped three points behind Boston for last playoff spot. Honestly, the Rangers and the Bruins in the same line about a playoff race? Strange things are happening, that’s for sure.
And it was strange. The Rangers never quite seemed to start their team “A” game, but they beat the Sabers 47-23 overall and, more specifically, 36-10 in the final 40 minutes of regulation. They kept control of the puck for shifts at a time, for three or four quarters at a time in fact, took a 2-1 lead at 6:17 a second when Chytil pushed one in. top of the lip of the crease. And they avoided falling into despair when the Sabers’ Tage Thompson whistled one through Igor Shesterkin to tie with just 3.6 seconds on the clock in the third.
The Rangers took 47 shots and probably could have increased that by about 10 more if they hadn’t so stubbornly adhered to Col. William Prescott’s order not to shoot before they could see the white of the Guardian’s eyes. – in this case, Dustin Tokarski.
Again, it’s the Rangers and they make no apologies.
“When you get over 40 shots I think you have to be pretty happy with your effort,” said Ryan Strome, who recorded an assist on Colin Blackwell’s goal at 6:40 of the second period to tie the player. age 52 of Rod Gilbert. Club record for attackers with their 10th consecutive game with an assistant.
“I think sometimes we tend to shoot more for quality than quantity and sometimes that helps us and sometimes not. I think especially with our best guys you can’t micromanage it. You have to trust that we are seeing the right game and that we are going to make the right game.
“I think you see that with the roster we’re making passes that few teams can do,” said Strome, who has 33 points (11-22) in 35 games. “When we mix our speed and whatever we can do, sometimes we can be a dangerous team.”
Quinn said the reason the third line – the Greenhorn Line, under another name – received less than its usual ice roster was because of its struggles in its own end in the first period. Another reason, of course, was the fact that the first power play unit, on which neither of the kids reside, monopolized more human advantage almost all the time, as usual with Strome, Zibanejad , Artemi Panarin, Chris Kreider (and point man Adam Fox) all taking between 6:13 and 6:25 of the club’s 8:00 with the man advantage while going from 0 to 4. But it’s like it. By the way, that would be so even if Vitali Kravtsov made his NHL debut on Saturday.
But after sitting for much of a second, the kids created chaos in front of Tokarsky by barging into the net (the most notable job Gauthier did, the one that would come out for Kravtsov) before Chytil got the green light score.
“What should I say? Every shift that we’re out there, we just want to score a goal,” said Chytil, who has played his most assertive game since he broke. hand in Game 5 of the season. “I think we had a good game.
“Like I said the other day, we can’t control whether the coach puts us on the ice or not. We must be ready at all times. “
The children were ready when called. The team managed to control their emotions in a contest they owned but couldn’t quite seal. The Rangers persevered, they won and they had two points in the race.
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