First the Rangers lost their focus last night. Then they lost their discipline.
And then, trailing by three goals after two periods and missing two players who had been ejected, they scored five goals in the third period to beat the Minnesota Wild, 5-4, in front of a delirious crowd at Madison Square Garden.
The dramatic, unlikely win -- in which Anthony Duclair tied the score with 3:47 left in regulation and Mats Zuccarello put them ahead 37 seconds later -- lifted the Rangers to 5-4. They have four days to celebrate before hosting Winnipeg Saturday.
With the Rangers trailing 3-0 and having managed only eight shots on goal, Kevin Klein's blast from the blue line went through Rick Nash's legs and past goalie Darcy Kuemper at 2:52 of the third. The assists on Klein's second goal of the season went to Nash and Zuccarello.
Nash then backhanded the rebound of Matt Hunwick's shot for his ninth goal at 4:48, but Jason Zucker's tip gave the Wild a 4-2 lead just 47 seconds later.
But Carl Hagelin took advantage of a Wild turnover and his shot from the high slot hit the crossbar and came straight down. Derick Brassard, who had charged the net, was alone for the putback, and the Rangers closed to 4-3 at 7:54.
Duclair ripped a shot from the right circle to tie it at 16:12 and Zuccarello pumped in a pass from Brassard 37 seconds later for the game-winner.
'I can't even explain what just happened,' Brassard said. 'We couldn't get anything going . . . We just talked to each other after the second, to get one goal and go from there. When you're down 3-0, it's not one shift, it's the first goal.'
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, it was the first time the Rangers came back from a three-goal deficit entering the third period to win since Feb. 21, 1992, against the Minnesota North Stars.
'It was kind of embarrassing being out there,' Zuccarello said. 'But we said some words after the second and showed some really good character. That's the way we should play at home. Just don't be afraid. That's when we're one of the best teams in the league.'
On the down side, Saturday's game likely will be played without John Moore, whose elbow to the head of Erik Haula in the second period drew a match penalty, which means an automatic hearing by the league's Department of Player Safety. Moore was suspended for two games after a head shot to Montreal's Dale Weise in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference finals.
That left the Rangers down a second man; Chris Kreider was ejected late in the first period after a hit that launched defenseman Jonas Brodin into the end boards, drawing a major penalty and a game misconduct.
The Wild remains without a power-play goal this season. Minnesota skated 14 minutes with the man-advantage in the first 40 minutes and didn't score.
After a scoreless first period, the Wild scored three times in the second. After the Rangers killed the remainder of a five- minute major to Kreider for boarding Brodin, Nate Prosser slid a shot under Henrik Lundqvist's pads at 5:29. The Wild made it 2-0 on Matt Cooke's shot just 55 seconds later.
The Rangers outlasted Moore's match penalty at 7:12, but with four Rangers in their zone, no one saw Jason Pominville behind them. He beat Lundqvist low stick side at 15:38.
'We have to give ourselves some credit,' Lundqvist said. 'It was not pretty for two periods, but we found a way.'
Posted by Unknown on Monday, October 27, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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