Rangers beat Golden Knights 2-1 in hard-fought game – The Hockey Writers – New York Rangers

The New York Rangers travel to Las Vegas to take on the league-leading (point percentage) Vegas Golden Knights in a highly anticipated game. Despite struggling for much of the season, the Rangers have found some momentum of late, scoring in four of their last five games and appear to have turned a corner.

game review

The first quarter was a fierce battle, with neither side able to score. The Rangers and Golden Knights both had chances, but strong goaltending by Igor Shesterkin and Ilya Samsonov kept the game scoreless. Neither team was penalized during the game. The Rangers dominated shots on goal, outshooting Vegas 12-6, and appeared to be the more efficient team as they controlled much of the game in the opening 20 minutes.

There was more action in the second period, starting with Vincent Trocheck receiving a penalty just over five minutes into the game as he strongly objected to the call, sending him Sent into the penalty area for two minutes. Early in Vegas' power play, Mark Stone scored to give the Golden Knights a 1-0 lead.

Rangers reacted quickly and fought back after the goal. K'Andre Miller took a tripping penalty from Keegan Kolesar to put the Rangers on the power play. New York took advantage when Mika Zibanejad's one-time shot beat Trocheck, who turned around and stood in front of the net. Despite his apparent injury, Trocheck scored to tie the game at 1-1.

The game was now evenly matched and the pace picked up as the minutes wore on. Jack Eichel found himself alone in front of Igor Shesterkin, but nearly made it the go-ahead goal when his shot hit the crossbar. In the final moments of the game, there was a crazy scramble in front of Shesterkin, and after the final buzzer sounded, the puck rushed out of the baseline. In the second quarter, the two sides tied with 12 goals, reflecting that the confrontation between the two teams was more balanced and intense.

The teams were tied entering the third period, but the deadlock was broken just over five minutes in when Adam Estrom scored on a spin to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. Shortly after, Riley Smith was whistled for tripping, putting Vegas in a power play. However, the Rangers' penalty kill was strong and successfully reduced the Golden Knights' advantage and maintained a one-goal lead.

With just over two minutes left in the game, Urho Vaakanainen was sent to the penalty box for hooking William Karlsson. The Rangers' penalty kill was high, and the Rangers kept their winning streak alive, improving their record to 20 wins, 20 draws and 2 losses, while the Golden Knights fell to 28 wins, 11 losses and 3 draws.