The three of us were unavailable to write the recap last night, so we reached out to Justin (posts here as Keeps) to pen this review. Thanks Justin, great review as always.

The Rangers looked great in the offensive zone tonight.  They put pressure on the Sabres to move the puck quickly on the breakout and for the most part controlled the physical game when working to establish the cycle down low.  The points were effective in distributing the puck and actually pulling the trigger on the power play.

The Sabres had the upper hand on the transition game.  It was really the only time they were able to get the puck to the middle of the ice, save for one or two exceptions.  Buffalo was able to showcase their team speed through the neutral zone and were able to get their best chances on the rush.

Nice to see McDonagh shake off his rough game against the Lightning and play a very solid game against a quick and elusive Buffalo top line.

How about the special teams tonight?  Two shorthanded goals and a PP tally.  Callahan’s shorty was a thing of beauty, just flat outworking Derek Roy before putting a softy in on Enroth just when the Sabres were building some momentum.

Gabby was pretty well contained most of the night until he got some room on that PP goal that helped break it open.  Hagelin, on the other hand was flying all night and even without the two goals, one of his best games as a Ranger.

Marty Biron was very solid tonight.  He had some very high quality saves and lived up to his billing as a quality puck-handling goaltender.  It makes Hank’s difficulty with playing the puck a little more apparent watching Biron work.

Jhonas Enroth did not fair nearly as well as Biron tonight.  He was just slightly off his angle for the majority of the game, and when you are as small as he is it’ll sink you.  Granted, Gabby and Hagelin’s shots were beauties, but if he’s on his angle, he probably gets a piece of both.  Carl’s second goal on the other hand, just seemed to handcuff Enroth and joined Cally’s SH goal as the two soft goals of the evening.

Overall, the Rangers played a very sound game.  Very few mistakes bookended by some great plays and quality goaltending.  They played solid defensively (especially considering their bottom 3 are being held together by hockey tape and stick wax) and worked their physical game down low with an effective forecheck.  Nice to give Hank a night off, and back at it tomorrow against the Panthers at the Garden.

Share: 

More About: