The Rangers pitched their third shutout in four games, whitewashing Dallas 2-0. In a game that saw Henrik Lundqvist get run over in the first period and tremendous action back and forth the first 40 minutes, a shorthanded goal proved the difference. Rick Nash, making his first appearance in four games, tallied that tally, giving New York the 1-0 lead they never relinquished. It's off to Music City for a match up against the Predators on Saturday.
Lundqvist, making his first start since last Tuesday against the Islanders, was sharp early on. But at 9:19 in the first period, concerns over his recent slump went out the window due to what looked to be a much bigger potential problem. Cody Eakin ran over Lundqvist behind the net while the netminder’s head was down, trying to retrieve the puck. Lundqvist’s helmet flew off, he went down, and struggled to get back to his feet before falling to his knees again. Lundqvist, meanwhile, had to be assisted off, in order to undergo the required concussion protocol, resulting in Antti Raanta replacing him between the pipes. Lundqvist was sidelined for only five minutes, 31 seconds and was brilliant once again upon his return for the rest of the game.
Here is the hit:
Immediately after the incident, the Rangers' response was tepid at best. A bit of a face wash was all while Jimmy Vesey and others basically just watched and failed to respond physically. You could argue that payback in the scoresheet resulting from the five minute major, creating the 51 second 5-on-3, would be the best response. To me, that's wrong to a certain extent. Yes, scoring on the man advantage and grabbing a foothold on the game would have been nice. But even if that happened - which it didn't - your goalie just got run. Your team has had issues with a lack of response in the past when liberties were taken in general, see Carrillo and Gaborik, and especially on Lundqvist. I am not advocating dirty play, but you also have to make opponents realize or at least pay somewhat for their actions, especially one as dirty as Eakin's.
The hit earned Eakin a game misconduct, a five-minute charging major and likely a multi-game suspension — though that possibility did little to satisfy Alain Vigneault. “First thing is the league better do something about that hit,” Vigneault said. “It’s everything you want to take away from the game. It’s a hit to the head, forward motion, and it’s a goaltender on top. That happens in the playoffs and your goaltender has to go out of the net — they better do something about that. They better take care of business.” It will be interesting to see what the Department of Player Safety gives to Mike Hoffman for his cross check of Logan Couture, but since it's by phone, at max it will be five games. If little satisfaction is gotten wig that ruling, consider me skeptical that Eakin gets the right level of punishment.
Lundqvist ended up making 27 saves in pitching a shutout. Technically, he was extremely sound, and his lack of focus, which has been an issue recently, wasn't a problem Thursday, as he tracked and anticipated plays. Several of those 27 plays were spectacular, especially when New York was shorthanded, with many coming in blitz like fashion, forcing Lundqvist to be sharp both technically and mentally.
Lundqvist's strong performance, especially in the second, when he made 18 saves, kept it scoreless. Through two. In the third, Dallas got a power play with just over six minutes gone. This was the turning point of the game and Nash's veteran smarts and Jeff Beukeboom's scouting led to the goal.
At 7:08 of the third and less than a minute into the penalty kill after Jesper Fest went off for interference, Nash intercepted a pass by Jamie Benn at the blue line. He went one-on-one with Antti Niemi and beat him up with a quick wrist shot high over his glove under the cross-bar for the first goal of the game and his 12th if the season. On the play, the groin injury that kept him out those four games wasn't evident at all, as Nash was able to maintain his speed and lead on the breakaway for the tally.
As the NY Post noted:
The intercepted pass came by way of Beukeboom seeing the Stars try that drop pass at the blue line all night, and then Nash noticed how Niemi overplayed the deke when Chris Kreider had a thwarted breakaway early in second period, so he went for the fast release.
New York killed off the penalty and kept Dallas at bay the rest of the game. Mats Zuccarello added an empty-netter, for his first in 15 games, to seal the victory. The Rangers have found ways to win lately while the offense has dried up. This was the fourth time in five games New York scored fewer than three goals. After going 0-7-1 to start the year in contests such as that, the Rangers have won three of those four games, beating Winnipeg 2-1, Chicago 1-0 and now Dallas 2-0 last night.
As noted above, Zucc had no goals in 14 games before the empty net tally. J.T.Miller has one goal in last 12 games, Michael Grabner with one in his last 11 contests and Kevin Hayes with just one in his last 10 games. We knew the offense would dry up to an extent at some point, largely because the shooting percentage was unsustainable. The questions were if the defense and goaltending would improve their play. We know the answer about the goaltending thanks to Raanta for four games and Hank last night, which hopefully should continue. The D has been better but there are still troubling signs, as New York gets pinned deep in their zone too often and the counter attack isn't evident. But, it's four wins in five games and more important, Lundqvist looked to be back to his status of old.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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