Rangers comeback against Canucks fueled by ‘little bit of yelling in locker room’

In the same week that they put forth an appalling lack of compete against the Calgary Flames, the New York Rangers found themselves in the dressing room at the second intermission Saturday having recorded six shots on goal in a similar dismal effort against the Vancouver Canucks.

Somehow — thank you Igor Shesterkin — the Rangers were not only still in the game, they were tied 1-1. A crucial pair of points were there for the taking. But unlike Tuesday, when they showed nothing in the third period and lost 2-1 to the Calgary Flames, the Rangers exploded for four goals on six shots in the final period, skating to a 5-3 win.

“We need points right now and we’re still in this run. … After those first two periods, a little bit of yelling in the locker room. I think we figured it out as a team, gotta stop turning pucks over and shooting ourselves in the foot,” Rangers forward Jonny Brodzinski explained postgame. “After that, pucks just started to find their way into the net.”

It’s not that the Rangers were great in the third period — they still managed only six shots, including an empty-net goal by J.T. Miller, and allowed some Grade-A chances for the Canucks. But what the Rangers did best was battle and make the most of their opportunities.

“Shades of last year, too. So many come-from-behind wins and a lot of the same players on this team. Just being resilient,” Brodzinski noted.

Brodzinski was at the forefront of the third-period success Saturday. He scored a pair of pretty goals, the first at 1:39, when he buried a Miller feed from the slot to make it 2-1 Rangers.

Then after the Canucks twice came back to tie the score, Brodzinski scored the game-winner at 15:47, when he made it 4-3 with a lightning-quick release. That goal was a backbreaker since it came 37 seconds after Brock Boeser had tied the score for Vancouver.

“We were doing just too many things to hurt ourselves. We’re not finishing checks, we’re not getting pucks deep and when we were, we had one guy going hard and we had two guys kind of sitting back in our lock. Just playing way more direct, more simple and good things happen,” Brodzinski explained.

It was Brodzinski’s second two-goal game in the NHL, and second such game in the past month, including his two-goal, three-point outing against the Islanders on Feb. 25.

“He’s been a really valuable piece just in the fact that he’s played all the positions, moved up and down the lineup and certainly has the capability offensively to deliver,” coach Peter Laviolette said about Brodzinski. “What I thought was evident for him where I thought we were a little off the mark from a speed standpoint tonight is that he’s skater, he can move. He can get involved in the rush and involved in the offense, where his speed can really be an asset for him.”

Despite win, Rangers ‘need to play better than that going forward’

Of course, this isn’t the blueprint for long-term success. The Rangers cannot keep starting so slowly, routinely being outworked, turning pucks over time and again and relying on Shesterkin to save the day.

It almost worked against the Flames. It did work against the Canucks. But with 11 games to play, the Rangers must figure out a way to clean up their overall game up and be able to compete for 60 minutes consistently. They’re ninth in the Eastern Conference, one point behind the Montreal Canadiens for the second wild card.

However, each of the teams around them in the standings, including the Canadiens, has two games in hand on the Rangers. So, they’re going to need some luck in order to make the Stanley Cup Playoffs. And they need to clean up their own game and continue to fight for points.

“It was kind of a mixed bag,” Miller said postgame. “They probably outplayed us for most of the game today, but we stuck with it. I think we had out best period in the third period … we’ll take the points this time of year, though.

“We need to play better than that going forward, I think.” 

Laviolette certainly would agree with that last part.

“There’s no excuse for that,” Laviolette said. “We’re at a point in the season where we can’t start a game like that, like we did in the first period (outshot 11-1). We didn’t have the speed, they did. We need to possess the puck, we didn’t.”

Pressed specifically about what ails the Rangers, Laviolette responded, well, quickly.

“We’ve got to do things quicker,” the coach said. “Sometimes we’re moving it too slow, sometimes the game’s moving too slow. We’re looking for too many things East-West when we should be delivering pucks and that’s what was really evident for me in the first period even when we did get into the offensive zone, we’re still looking East-West. We just needed to keep the game simple, simplify it.”

After a flight to the West Coast and two days between games, the Rangers return to action against the tough Los Angeles Kings on Tuesday, looking to keep it simple, play a full 60 minutes and find a way to pick up another two points in the standings.