Igor Shesterkin defeated the Canucks 5-3 on Sam Rosen Day. Yes, it was the Rangers that notched the victory but we all know if not for Igor's performance, New York would have fallen to defeat. Jonny Brodzinski had a pair of tallies in the victory, including the game-winner. The Blueshirts head out to California to face the Kings on Tuesday, Ducks and the first meeting with Jacob Trouba since the trade on Friday and Sharks on Saturday. to close out March.
Scratches: Berard, Vaakanainen, de Haan, Kaliyev (upper-body)
IR: Edström (lower-body)
A few thoughts :
1) Surviving: the clip below says it all, Rosen is trying to drag the Rangers into the playoffs. It stinks that this is where they are with 12 games left. Yesterday, maybe those sentiments from Sam Rosen created some form of karma in the third period and will be the impetus the team needs to make the postseason.
Despite the win, the task got a little tougher as the Canadiens rallied from a 4-1 deficit to lose in a shootout, but took a point to move one point ahead of the Rangers for the final wild-card spot in the East — with two games in hand. In addition, the Islanders now are just one point shy of the Rangers with a pair of games in hand as well. Columbus has dropped to 71 points, three behind New York, in two fewer games than the Rangers. Detroit trails Columbus by a point in the same number of contests.
2) Offense: just six shots through two periods and only one in the first is far from the right way to start a game. Despite that lack of any semblance of an attack, the score was tied at one. The third period was a barnburner with six goals scored, including one by each team within 68 seconds and another in 37 seconds. New York had a robust - sarcasm dripping - six shots in the frame, including an empty-net marker.
A win is a win is a win. Yet, as we have said, this is not a recipe for consistent success, let alone a playoff berth. But a feisty Igor and a dash of Brodzinski proved to be enough ina. contest where the Blueshirts were outshot 39-12, out-attempted 78-36 and outplayed for a whole lot of it.
3) Lines were juggled during the contest with the team struggling for offense. When New York only goes east-west, we know the results. When they mix in some north-south, as the fourth line consistently does, they generate chances. Factor in the inability to consistently win 1:1 battles and it's a recipe for disaster.
Their issues the first two periods led to, per Bodzinski, "a little bit of yelling in the locker room" "It's all turnovers," he said. "Every single time we're getting in the neutral zone, it's trying to make a cute play. ... We're doing too many things to hurt ourselves. We're not finishing checks. We weren't getting pucks deep, and when we were, we had one guy going hard (and) we had two guys kind of sitting back in our lock." The team knows what the issues are and yet, they continue to repeat them, which si what drives us all mad.
Brennan Othmann, moved up to the top-six, notched his first career NHL assist on Adam Fox's tally. Brodzinski, who brings a dash of speed, excelled in his move to the second line, posting the two goals. Mika Zibanejad and Will Cuylle dropped down to the third line with Chris Kreider after the shuffling.
4) Saluting Sam Rosen: Rosen was honored before the game with a team-signed jersey and a gold-plated microphone for his 40 years. But to me, the Rangers dropped the ball by not raising a banner to the rafters for Rosen. My guess is they do that down the road to have another game where there is an event to sell tickets, but he should have been feted with this yesterday.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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