NEW YORK — The New York Rangers and the St. Louis Blues entered the third period tied at one.
This was a similar position to what New York had found itself in during the final two games of its Western road trip in Denver and Salt Lake City. Both those games, of course, the Rangers lost. On Monday night at Madison Square Garden, they held off the Blue just enough to secure their second home win of the season.
“That was a tough road trip for us,” said Rangers defenseman Vladislav Gavrikov. “We had to bounce back, as we did. Especially at home, too.”
The Rangers made it complicated. They surrendered a late goal to Blues left wing Brayden Schenn with 1:15 to play, turning a comfortable 3-1 lead into a slight 3-2 edge. They took two high-sticking penalties in the final six minutes. But their early period goals from Alexis Lafrenière and Adam Edström proved enough.
Here are three takeaways from Monday’s win.
Vladislav Gavrikov’s all-around importance
Early in the second period, Gavrikov was hit up high by a shot from Blues defenseman Colton Parayko. He was shaken up, but stayed in the game.
Where did Gavrikov get hit?
“Not in the face,” he said. “That’s a good thing. I got it in the body, so it’s all good.”
Gavrikov assisted on both of New York’s third period goals. Forty seconds in, his point shot was deflected in by Lafrenière. Just before the nine-minute mark, Gavrikov started another scoring play from the point, where he fed Sam Carrick on the left flank, then went to the net. When a point shot went wide, he slid a nifty backhand pass in front to Edström, who put New York up by two.
“He’s heavy at the net front, he leans on people, he’s hard to play against,” Rangers head coach Mike Sullivan said. “His ability to make some plays off the offensive blue line are sneaky. He’s been involved in a fair amount of goals over the last little while there, just by making pretty good decisions along that offensive blue line, when to jump through, when we’re trying to create some motion and some movement in the top half of the offensive zone.”
Gavrikov now has four points in his last two games, as he also chipped in a goal and an assist against the Mammoth on Saturday.
“He’s a great player all around,” Edström said. “I know a lot of guys are talking about his offensive game, and that part of his game every now and then, he kind of shows that glimpse of what an offensive player he is. And he’s been a great player in this league for a long time.”
Rangers stop chasing offense
After Monday’s morning skate, Sullivan explained that he felt the club was “chasing offense” in recent games, which tends to result in less.
In the win, he felt that his club did a better job “taking care of the puck,” and that the Rangers defended well with good intentions.
“We weren’t trading chance for chance or opening the game up, and giving a ridiculous amount of high quality looks,” Sullivan said. “So you play the game the right way. You can create your offense through your defense. I thought we did a good job getting inside in the offensive zone, just getting into the blue paint.”
Sullivan specifically referenced Lafrenière and Edström’s goals as examples of getting to the net.
“That’s where the majority of the goals are scored in this league,” he continued. It’s no secret. So I thought we did a better job on the offensive side just trying to get inside a little bit more.”
As a whole, the Rangers out-attempted the Blues 51-38, and led 9-5 in high-danger chances. They had more than half of the expected goal share, helped by a dominant first period (76.7%).
The road ahead will show who the Rangers are
The Rangers needed Monday’s win “a lot,” Edström said. And while they held on to beat St. Louis, their upcoming slate will be more indicative of how they stack up against the NHL’s best.
The Blues sit in fourth-last in the league. They’re tied for the worst goal differential (-24), and are on track to miss the playoffs by a sizable margin. This was not just a win the Rangers needed internally; a loss would have been unacceptable.
“Next few games coming up, it’s going to be against good teams, so we got to be ready to do that again,” said Gavrikov.
Last week, the Vegas Golden Knights, Colorado Avalanche and Utah Mammoth — young, fast teams that fit the archetype of modern NHL contenders — skated circles around the slower and older Rangers. All three of those clubs hold playoff spots in a disparate Western Conference.
Even though the Rangers sit just two points back of a playoff spot, the rat race of the Eastern Conference has banished them to fourth-last, and three points out of the basement. There are a myriad of ambitious teams aiming for a playoff spot.
New York’s biggest evaluation lies ahead this week, with road games in Carolina and Boston, followed by a Saturday afternoon tilt at the Garden against the Lightning.
