The Rangers completed their five-game road trip sweep, defeating the Jets 3-2 in overtime. Artemi Panarin extended his season-opening point streak to nine with a goal and two assists, including a perfect dish to Mika Zibanejad for the game-winner. Chris Kreider netted another power play goal, tying the game in the third, while Igor Shesterkin stopped 27 of 29 shots, making a brilliant save late in the third, to earn the win. New York returns home for four games in a five-contest stretch at MSG beginning Thursday against Carolina.
A few thoughts:
1) Blake Wheeler was rightfully honored by Winnipeg. With the season one-ninth of the way over and this visit complete, hopefully that allows Wheeler to settle in and contribute. So far, that has yet to be the case, but he has been better the last few contests. The bottom-six as a whole has been somewhat underwhelming, though Nick Bonino has been a bright spot, the same with Will Cuylle.
New York has relied on top-six production, mainly from the big boys, solid defense and goaltending and special teams to open the season 7-2. Their 5x5 production has been uneven and Kakko Kaapo has yet to fully hit his stride, so work remains. The strong start to the year has masked some of these areas of deficiency or need, but they will need to be remediated for the success to continue. I am not advocating changes yet to the top-six, but i want to see more from Kakko and production from the third line to be really satisfied.
2) Panarin is in beast mode. When I watch Panarin, I look for body language and if he is enjoying himself on the ice. Last year’s playoffs was a prime example of bad mojo Panarin, as his struggles were evident in how he looked on the ice. Not production wise, but body language and mindset.
This season, we are seeing first year in New York, Panarin. Maybe cutting his hair was the anti-Samson, as the follicle removal also washed away all the bad vibes. Panarin is dominant on the ice. He wants and is demanding the puck, willing to hold it to make a play but shooting when the time calls rather than just also looking to pass. He has been creative, setting up chance after chance, as he did on the game-winnner.
3) Shesterkin - Igor is locked in. The goal by David Gustafsson came on a rolling puck that was roofed. Nikolaj Ehlers beat Igor on a wrap-around through the pads that he would love back. That was it. When Igor needed to be big late in the third, he bailed out the defense with a save to keep the game tied at two. In overtime, he wasn’t overly tested, but was there when needed. His overall numbers are skewed by the losses to Columbus and Nashville, but he righted the ship on the road trip, winning three starts.
4) Special teams won the game again. Kreider’s goal on a perfect shot by Adam Fox and deflection came on the power play. After a brutally bad tripping call on Ryan Lindgren, who never touched Mason Appleton, with 19 seconds left in regulation, New York killed off a 4-on-3 PP to start overtime. The Blueshirts were a perfect 3-for-3 short handed, and after a slow start, are up to 10th best in the league with an 83.9 percent success rate. Winnipeg carried play in the overtime but New York stuck with it and earned the win late.
5) Fun fact - of the six assists tallied by the Rangers in the game, four were by the blue line. Jacob Trouba had the primary assist on Panarin’s goal on a beautiful shot-pass that Panarin deflected. K’Andre Miller had the secondary helper. Fox’s shot was deflected by Kreider for the PPG. On the game-winner, Miller had a nice keep in the offensive zone, then dished the puck to Panarin who set up Zibanejad for the own-time past Connor Hellebuyck.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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