NEW YORK (NY) – The Edmonton Oilers held a lead three different times Thursday night, but 60 minutes was too much. The Rangers persistence and late surge rewarded them with two points and another home victory.
New York trailed by one goal on three different occasions but rallied behind the home crowd to record their eighth win of the year. Jesper Fast notched his first goal of the year and the tying goal 9:31 into the third period. Nine minutes later, Rick Nash scored the teams fourth goal of the game and the eventual winner. J.T. Miller notched an empty net goal for a final of 5-3.
“The last few games we played some really good teams,” Nash said. “It shows a lot when you go down three times and you come back every time.”
After scoring 15 goals in 60 games last year, Nash faced some heavy scrutiny. In the 2016 season, Nash currently has six goals in 11 games. His display of emotion after he recorded his sixth goal of the year shows how much his resurgence means to him and the team.
Goaltender Cam Talbot got the start at Madison Square Garden for the Oilers, the first time he would play his former team.
Talbot, a fan favorite of the Blueshirt faithful, recored 26 saves in only his third regulation loss of the season. The Western Conference leading Oilers are now 7-3-1.
“I thought once we got that third one we were going to take over and close it out, but they’re a resilient team and we knew that,” Talbot said. “We gave them too many opportunities in front of the net and they made us pay.”
The most impressive group of the game was the Rangers bottom six. Their third line in particular was outstanding.
The Rangers third line –consisting of Michael Grabner, Kevin Hayes and J.T. Miller– recorded seven points against the Oilers. Hayes was awarded the first star with a goal and two assists.
“We just bring a different element to the line, every one,” Grabner said. “It’s been going good so far. At the same time, when we’re not scoring we try to be responsible in our own end and don’t make too many mistakes to feed their energy. I think it’s been going pretty good and hopefully we can keep it up.”
Edmonton seemed to control the first period and most of the second, but on an off night a Rangers win meant a lot to head coach Alain Vigneault.
“I really thought for us it wasn’t our best game, but I thought it was a character win,” he said. “We were down three times, we came back, found a way to win it with less than two minutes to go. It’s about winning games and that’s what we did tonight.”
The Rangers lead the NHL with 45 goals.
On Saturday they will head to one of Rangers leading goal scorers Jimmy Vesey’s hometown of Boston to play the Bruins at 7pm.
Connor McDavid and the Oilers will head to Long Island to face John Tavares and the Islanders at 7pm Saturday.
Follow Danny on Twitter at @Danny_PJones
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