In New York Friday, the Rangers’ Mats Zuccarello seemed to wait nearly the entire length of overtime, 37 seconds, for the Detroit Red Wings’ Jimmy Howard to make a move.
From the right side, Zuccarello wristed a shot past Howard for the game-winner as the
Mats Zuccarello scored OT winner over Detroit – file photo courtesy of Lewis Bleiman
Rangers won, 2-1.
“First see who’s open, but then just try to get the shot off quick,” Zuccarello said . “It’s nice to see it go in.”
The Rangers’ Brady Skjei had taken the puck up ice from the defensive zone after Henrik Lundqvist had lost his stick and made a game-saving stop on the Wings down low.
Tomas Tatar had the lone goal for the Wings who took a 1-0 lead in the third period.
Chris Kreider picked up a greasy goal down low to tie it midway through the final frame.
“A lot of people complain about low-scoring games,” Rangers head coach Alain Vigneault said, “but for me, anyway, this was as entertaining as it could get.”
Henrik Lundqvist made 40 saves to pick up the win.
“I feel great,” Lundqvist said. “People talk to me about starting a lot of games, but physically you never really get tired. It’s mentally. Right now, I’m in a nice flow where I don’t overthink things so I feel rested. I’m just excited to get an opportunity to play a lot of hockey right now.”
The Rangers have won seven straight at home and three overall and are 9-2-0 in their last 11 games.
“To play that game was a lot of fun but it was also challenging. There were a lot of chances. Hopefully the fans enjoyed it. It was a great finish by us,” Lundqvist said after the OT win.
[WATCH: All Red Wings vs. Rangers highlights]
Howard made 29 saves in the loss.
“We did a tremendous job from the start of the game,” Howard said. “It’s one of those where after you felt like you deserved the two points.”
Detroit has lost three straight and dropped to 10-9-4.
“Both goalies were obviously great, but I thought we did lots of good stuff that we can certainly build on. There are areas we’ve got to shore up,” Red Wings head coach Jeff Blashill said after the disappointing loss. “Now, some of that is they’re a real good team. They’ve won lots of games here and they certainly test you in your ‘D’ zone, and I didn’t think our ‘D’ zone was quite good enough in the second. But, I thought overall we played the way we need to play to be successful and the way we’ve played over the last large stretch of games that we have been successful.”
You must be logged in to post a comment.