What the New York Rangers could be with a pure goal scorer on the roster.
Trailing 2-0 after a dismal first period effort, the Rangers rallied for two goals to force extra time in Edmonton before the Oilers’ Leon Draisaitl struck for the game-winner 35 seconds into the extra session.
Leon Draisaitl scored OT winner for Oilers – file photo by Lewis Bleiman
“Every point right now is huge for us,” Draisaitl said. “We know the position we are in and we are trying to climb back into it. It was a huge win for us.”
In one their worst periods of the season, the Rangers trailed by a deuce on goals from Conner McDavid and Matt Benning .
“To get down 2-0 and play as poorly as we did in the first period, and come back to play with a lot more pace and lot more passion is certainly a great sign,” Rangers head coach David Quinn said. “Certainly, you’d like to do that for 60 minutes instead of 40, but give them credit, I though they played hard and they were dialed in from the start. I guess we had to adjust our pace if we were going to have a chance tonight.”
Mikko Koskinen made 28 saves in the win.
Brendan Lemieux had a goal and an assist, Brett Howden scored for New York to rally back from the deficit and the dreadful effort in the opening frame.
The Rangers dropped to 28-28-13.
If only they had one veteran scorer to compliment he enthusiasm, youth and sheer enjoyment of playing the rest of the roster displays.
“There are a lot of points that we’ve been missing out on,” Lemieux said. “It [stinks], but that’s the way the game goes. Hopefully next year it goes different for us. You never know, with 13 games left, but the writing is kind of on the wall and we just have to create good habits and stick to it until we find out what happens one way or the other.”
[WATCH: All Rangers vs. Oilers highlights]
Alexandar Georgiev made 30 saves in the loss.
“I thought it was a great effort by our guys to battle back,” Georgiev said. “In overtime, they have skilled players and they happen to get [a goal]. But it’s great that we got the point today.”
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