The New York Rangers bounced back from their lackluster performance Wednesday night with a 3-2 win over the Philadelphia Flyers. For a box score, click here.
Okay, so maybe that isn’t entirely accurate. Henrik Lundqvist bounced back from his performance Wednesday night. The rest of the Rangers? We’re still waiting for them to come around. But it was nice to see vintage Henrik in net, making 40 saves after being pulled versus the Penguins. That is why he is and will continue to be the Rangers #1 goalie. There is no debate on this.
Please Rangers writers, I beg of you. Stop making a controversy where there is none. It won't help anyone.
— Melissa (@BlkNBlueShirts) November 24, 2016
With Thanksgiving yesterday, I thought it would be best to make this recap a list of what we are thankful for.
First and foremost, Henrik Lundqvist for the reasons listed above.
Second, Mark Streit for the beautiful pass to Nick Holden, which set up the goal that wound up the game winner:
[protected-iframe id=”576782d9b5539a1b4e0b1690fa563054-114320562-36203241″ info=”https://www.nhl.com/video/embed/hayes-great-redirection/t-283152704/c-46720203?autostart=false” width=”540″ height=”360″]Thanks again, ex-Islander!
Next we have the Ottawa Senators, who so kindly put Matt Puempel on waivers the other day so the Rangers could add him to their lineup. Sure he was wide open after a beautiful feed by Jimmy Vesey but we’ve seen plenty of guys somehow miss that shot. Puempel didn’t and now has his first goal in a Rangers uniform.
I want to thank the referees, Garrett Rank and Ian Walsh, for not calling a signal penalty on the Rangers that would lead to them being shorthanded. In doing so, they helped keep the #2 power play in the league off the ice. And after watching the Rangers on an early four minute power play, I also want to thank them for not calling a penalty on the Flyers that would put the Rangers back on the power play again. They didn’t deserve another after those four minutes.
And while we’re at it, a quick thank you to Travis Konency and Brandon Manning, for giving the Rangers their first two fighting majors of the year. Going into today, the Rangers were the only team to not have a fight this season. Everyone had to know that would change once they played the Flyers so thanks for coming through guys.
Thanks to J.T. Miller for setting up Derek Stepan who opened the scoring with under seven minutes to go in the first period. Always nice when the Rangers score first in Philly. Helps take their obnoxious crowd out of the game.
Most importantly I would like to thank the Rangers themselves for somehow being 15-6-1 in their first 22 games of the season. Are they playing their best hockey at the moment? No they are not. But we know what they can do. This isn’t last years’ team so I’m not expecting the crash that came 12 months ago. Hopefully they get back on track (and continue to win) on Sunday evening when they are back at MSG to face the Senators.
(Photo by Len Redkoles/NHLI via Getty Images)
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