Game Summary NSH: J. Saros (L) NYR: H. Lundqvist (W) Event Summary
– POINT TAKEN – The Rangers have earned at least one point in each of their last three games (1-0-2 record over the span). The Blueshirts have earned at least one point in four of seven games at MSG in 2017-18 (2-3-2 record).
– THREE’S COMPANY – The Rangers recorded at least three goals in a game for the third consecutive contest, and the Blueshirts have tallied 11 goals over the last three games. Also, nine different Rangers have registered a goal in the last three games. Since the start of last season, the Rangers have recorded 146 goals in regulation/overtime in 48 games at Madison Square Garden (3.04 goals per game over the span).
– POWER SURGE – New York was 1-for-5 (9:32) on the power play in today’s game. The Rangers have registered a power play goal in five of nine games this season, including two of the last three games.
– KILL ZONE – The Rangers were 5-for-5 (10:00) on the penalty kill and only allowed five shots on goal while shorthanded in today’s contest. Since the start of last season, New York has posted a 35-10-1 record in 46 games when not allowing a power play goal against.
– HOW THE WEST WAS WON – The Rangers earned their first win against a Western Conference opponent this season. The Rangers posted a 21-6-1 record in games against Western Conference opponents last season. The Blueshirts led all Eastern Conference teams in wins against Western Conference opponents in 2016-17. Both of the Rangers’ next two games and three of their next four contests are against Western Conference teams (Oct. 23 vs. San Jose, Oct. 26 vs. Arizona, Oct. 31 vs. Vegas).
– TEAM EFFORT – Through nine games this season, 14 different Rangers have recorded at least one goal.
– TWO GOOD – Excluding empty-net goals allowed in games against St. Louis and Columbus, the Rangers have held their opponent to two goals or fewer in four of the last seven contests (the Rangers lost 3-1 against St. Louis and Columbus, and the third goal against in both games was an empty-net goal).
– FIRST IN SCORE – The Blueshirts recorded the first goal of the game for the third time in their last five games and the fourth time in their last seven contests. New York has posted a 2-2-0 record when registering the first goal of the game in 2017-18.
– CLOSE CALL – All of the Rangers’ last seven games have been decided by two or fewer goals.
– FINISHING THE JOB – Since the start of the 2010-11 season, the Rangers have posted a 196-7-8 record in 211 regular season games in which they have held the lead entering the third period. New York’s .929 winning percentage when leading entering the third period over the span ranks first in the NHL.
– SMASHVILLE – The Rangers have won eight of their last 11 games against Nashville (8-3-0), including five of their last six games against the Predators (5-1-0). Also, New York has won four consecutive games against Nashville at MSG, dating back to Mar. 2, 2015.
– Kevin Hayes tallied two points (one goal, one assist), including the game-winning goal, and posted a plus-three rating. Hayes has registered a goal/point in each of the last two games (two goals, one assist) and three of the last five games (three goals, one assist). Since entering the NHL in 2014-15, 109 of his 135 career points have either been a goal or the primary assist on a goal (80.7% of his points have been primary points). Hayes leads the Rangers in even-strength goals thus far this season (three). He has registered six points (one goal, five assists) in the last three games against Nashville.
– Henrik Lundqvist stopped 23 of 25 shots he faced, including all nine shots he faced in the third period, to earn his second win of the season. Lundqvist also earned his 407th career NHL win, tying Hall of Famer Glenn Hall for ninth place on the NHL’s all-time wins list. Also, Lundqvist made his 750th career NHL appearance in today’s contest. He became the 20th goaltender in NHL history to appear in 750 career games in the league, as well as the third goaltender in NHL history to appear in at least 750 career games with one franchise (Martin Brodeur – New Jersey; Tony Esposito – Chicago). Lundqvist has allowed two goals or fewer in four of his last six appearances, posting a 2.32 GAA, a .928 SV%, and 1 SO over the span. Lundqvist was selected as one of the game’s Three Stars for the 299th time in 750 career NHL appearances (he has been selected as one of the game’s Three Stars in 39.9% of his career appearances).
– Jimmy Vesey registered two points (one goal, one assist), including his first goal/assist/point of the 2017-18 season, tallied the primary assist on the game-winning goal, and posted a plus-two rating.
– Alain Vigneault leads all NHL head coaches in wins since the start of the 2006-07 season (507). He earned his 616th career win as an NHL head coach in today’s contest, and he is one win away from tying Jacques Lemaire for 13th place on the league’s all-time wins list among head coaches.
– Jesper Fast registered the first goal of the game, established a single-game career-high with a plus-three rating, and recorded two hits. He has tallied a point in each of the last two games (one goal, one assist).
– Chris Kreider recorded a power play goal and was credited with three hits. Kreider leads the Rangers in power play goals since the start of his first full NHL season in 2013-14 (25). He led the Rangers in goals at MSG in 2016-17 (17).
– J.T. Miller notched an assist and was credited with two hits. Miller has registered five points (one goal, four assists) in the last four games, and he has also tallied eight points (two goals, six assists) in the previous eight contests. He leads the Rangers in assists (six) and points (eight) in 2017-18.
– David Desharnais registered an assist, tied for the game-high with two takeaways, and won three of six faceoffs (50.0%). He extended his point streak to four games (two goals, three assists over the span).
– Brady Skjei recorded an assist on the game-winning goal, led all skaters with six blocked shots, and posted a plus-one rating.
– Brendan Smith tallied an assist, was credited with four blocked shots, registered three hits, and posted a plus-one rating.
– Marc Staal skated in his 698th career game as a Ranger in today’s contest, tying Mark Messier and Steve Vickers for 12th place on the franchise’s all-time games played list. Also, Staal tied Vickers for the second-most career games a Rangers’ first-round pick has played with the Blueshirts in franchise history (Note: The NHL Amateur/Entry Draft began in 1963). The only Rangers’ first-round draft pick who has played in more career games with the Blueshirts than Staal has is Brian Leetch (1,129).
- Alain Vigneault, New York Rangers head coach
On whether there’s a sense of relief after getting a win…
“I don’t think relief is the right word, I mean obviously we felt we deserved a better outcome, especially in the last three games. The process was there; the work was there. Today we played a real strong first period, got a lead, then maybe just backed off a little more than we should have. Hank came up with some saves. We’ll take the two points and move on to the next game.”
On how Jesper Fast’s return has helped the team…
“I’ve got a real dependable five-on-five player there, and I’ve got probably one of our best penalty killers. He’s a big part of the energy on the team that we can bring to games, and I think he’s slowly but surely finding his rhythm. He’s coming back from a serious injury. It’s going to take him a little bit of time, but he is improving.”
On Kevin Hayes’ play the last couple of games…
“I think since I put that line together with Jimmy (Vesey) and Jesper (Fast), it’s a real hard-working line. It’s simple, north-south, get it in deep, work the corners, work on the forecheck. I think Kevin with his size and his hockey smarts, he fits in really well. The last couple of games, he’s gotten big goals for us, and I want that to continue for sure.”
- Peter Laviolette, Nashville Predators head coach
On working for scoring chances…
“We have to work to get the opportunities, and we thought we did. They didn’t go for us tonight, but the effort was there; the guys played a pretty good game.”
On missing point-blank scoring chances…
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to score goals. We came up on the short end of the stick, and like I said, I thought the game was pretty good. Defensively, we were pretty good—we didn’t give up much; offensively, we were able to get some looks in general. The goalie played well.”
On moving on from this game…
“It’s never easy. We’re in the collecting-points business, so today we collected zero. But the game has gotten better every game, and tonight was no different; we just didn’t get the results.”
- Kevin Hayes, New York Rangers forward
On his line…
“I thought the last two games we’ve been good. We try to keep it simple in the D-zone and don’t cheat. When you play good D you can generate some offense and today I thought we did that.”
On his goal…
“I got some speed there, and their D was standing flat-footed. Not often do I beat guys wide, but today that happened and luckily it went in.”
On getting a win today…
“It’s big. We’ve been struggling here and to play 60 minutes and get two points at home in front of our fans; it’s big. Hopefully, it’s a springboard into a lot of other things.”
- Henrik Lundqvist, New York Rangers goaltender
On his feeling after today’s win …
“It was a good feeling to finally get a win here. We talked about it the last couple of games; we were one play away from getting a win. You can do so many good things to try to get confidence and try to get a good feeling in here, but it, in the end, it comes down to winning games. I think I’d rather play bad and win than play great and lose. Finally, we get a good first period, a good start and sit in here and actually feel good about where we are in the game. You don’t have to go out and chase or try to force anything. It was a game where we got the goals, and after that, we tried to play a smart game. We didn’t force anything. They’re a good team, they defend well, so we didn’t get much, but we had a couple of guys who made some really good plays, and it was the difference. It was that one extra play today that made the difference.”
On the team’s penalty kill and the team’s play of late…
“I feel like our penalty kill has been pretty good. We’ve been hurt a couple of times, but at the same time you’re facing really good plays, and they move the puck well. But I feel like our timing – we’re pretty aggressive out there, and I like that – and for me, I just try to come up with that extra save. I try to be in the right place all of the time. Today, they have a couple of guys where you have to respect their shots. They can move the puck, but they have a couple of big shooters. That was in my mind, just trying to be aware of where they were. But I felt like after the first period, you try to build your game and feel good about where you are in your game, you don’t have to chase anything. Just take care of business, and it will be enough, you don’t have to do too much. But this was coming. We’ve had a couple of games now where we’ve been close, and it was just a matter of time. Finally, we get the two points here, take a deep breath, and then we go after another two points on Monday.”
- Ryan McDonagh, New York Rangers defenseman
On getting a hard-fought win today…
“It was great. Great contributions from everybody, whether they got on the score sheet or not – defensive plays, blocked shots, our PK did a good job today against a pretty talented group. Our power-play getting one too, so a lot of areas that we talked about and prepared for come through there. Especially going into the third with the lead and making sure we played well in front of Henrik (Lundqvist). He had to make some big saves for sure but not allowing the second or third opportunities happen.”
On Kevin Hayes’ line…
“You can definitely see they have some chemistry, but they’re going about it the right way. They’re staying underneath the puck, they’re winning their puck battles, and that’s how they’re getting their offensive looks. It’s something that we preach, which is taking care of your own end and they’re doing a great job there, which is leading to their offensive zone time.”
On playing the Predators, after the team went to the Finals last season…
“They have a lot of talent and a D core that is pretty creative on the offensive side. We gave up one there to them, but for the majority of the day we didn’t give up odd-man rushes, and that’s a big key for us against a group like this where their D-men are joining. I thought we did a good job of putting pucks behind them for the majority of the day and making them go the full length.”
- Filip Forsberg, Nashville Predators forward
On not converting chances…
“We created enough chances to win this game by a couple of goals. Obviously, you’ve got to give credit to Lundqvist, but at the same time we had chances that we’ve got to bury.”
On his scoring run this season…
“I mean I just try to go to the net a lot and obviously that’s where things happen. I was fortunate enough to tip that one (Josi’s shot) in. But I would rather have had two more for the win.”
– Tomorrow (Sunday, Oct. 22): Team is OFF
– Next Game: Monday, Oct. 23 vs. San Jose (7:00 p.m. ET – TV: MSG Network)
*Schedule subject to change
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