NEW YORK (NY) – Henrik Lundqvist made 35 saves on 36 shots and the New York Rangers earned their 11th win of the year. Calgary Flames goalie Brian Elliot stopped 24 of 28 shots.
After a scorching hot start to the year, the Rangers seemed to slow down the last two games (in which they went 1-1). They looked slow and sluggish Tuesday night when they lost to the Vancouver Canucks, who had lost nine straight coming into the game.
A reshuffling of lines made by head coach Alain Vigneault was meant to get the spark back that helped the Rangers outscore and dominate opponents. It seemed to work.
Michael Grabner, Derek Stepan, Jimmy Vesy and Pavel Buchnevich each tallied a goal, all on different lines than last game.
Grabner is off to one of his best starts to a season in his career and kept it going Saturday night. After playing on the third line the last couple of games he was sent back to fourth line, not on a punishment but rather to get some old chemistry back with line mates Brandan Pirri and Jesper Fast.
It would pay dividends 6:32 into the first period off a quick wrist shot from the right circle. It all happened when he made a great play in his own zone and using his quick speed, skated down the right side and fired a shot under Elliot’s glove.
“We’re playing a fast game,” said Grabner, “That works in my favor. I’ve been clicking with my linemates … the guys I’ve played with. I’ve had a few different linemates and I seem to be going well with each one of them.”
The Rangers are now outscoring their opponents 62-35. That plus-27 goal differential is the most in the league with the Canadians in second at plus-20.
“It’s impressive to see how we create chances every game,” Lundqvist said. “Sometimes it’s tough against different lineups, different systems, but we’ve been able to create a lot of scoring chances. Even the games we haven’t scored a lot, we’ve had a lot of chances to do so. It gives the team a lot of confidence knowing we can score if we really have to.”
The Rangers next game will be Sunday night in Edmonton against Connor McDavid and the Oilers at 9:30pm
The Flames will face the Wild in Minnesota on Tuesday at 8pm.
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