The Rangers didn’t have the same oomph to their five-on-five offense on Monday night as they had the previous two games, but that’s what power-play opportunities are for.
And so it was the Blueshirts’ top man-advantage unit that secured a 2-1 win over the Coyotes in the club’s home opener at Madison Square Garden, where a sold-out crowd of 18,006 got more and more into the game as their team did.
After whiffing on their first two power-play chances, the Rangers peppered Coyotes goalie Connor Ingram before Vincent Trocheck tipped Artemi Panarin’s shot through traffic for the go-ahead goal at 8:26 of the third period.
The Rangers didn’t spend nearly enough time in the offensive zone throughout the night, but the first power-play unit stepped up when the opportunity presented itself to gut out the win.
Goalie Igor Shesterkin, who finished with 26 saves and helped tidy up a messy postgame fracas, bounced back from a first-period goal that he barely got a piece of.
When Jason Zucker earned a penalty shot shortly after the Rangers regained the lead, after Barclay Goodrow wrapped his stick around him to prevent a breakaway goal, Shesterkin stood tall in net and made a key save.
The Coyotes generated most of the action in the second period, in which the Rangers took four penalties and gave the visitors chance after chance to break open the game.
Clayton Keller capitalized five minutes in to knot the score, 1-1, off a power-play one-timer that blew past Shesterkin.
It was just one of those unlucky periods for the Rangers.
At one point, Shesterkin sprung Panarin for a breakaway, but the puck got caught up in ref Kelly Sutherland’s skates and the opportunity was ruined before it even started.
Shortly thereafter, Alexis Lafreniere was hit with a soft slashing penalty and Ryan Lindgren was penalized for unsportsmanlike conduct after he shot the puck in the net out of frustration.
The Garden crowd was sure to let the referees know what they thought about that whole sequence.
Thanks to some big saves from Shesterkin and a couple of blocks by Jacob Trouba, however, the Rangers successfully defended the five-on-three power play for the final 1:19 of the middle frame and the first 41 seconds of the third.
Lindgren returned to his usual post next to Adam Fox and the penalty kill after missing the previous game with an undisclosed upper-body injury.
Though it was apparent Lindgren was still sore, especially after he struggled to even lift himself over the boards at the Rangers bench following a hit by Lawson Crouse.
Head coach Peter Laviolette also opted to go with the winning lineup from Saturday, which meant Tyler Pitlick drew back in for Jimmy Vesey on the right wing of the fourth line.
Despite some loose play in their own zone throughout the first period, the Rangers took a 1-0 lead into the first intermission.
Mika Zibanejad successfully connected with Chris Kreider on a two-on-one rush to give Kreider his fourth goal in three games.
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