The New York Rangers are finally back. In their preseason opener, the Rangers defeated the New Jersey Devils, a Metropolitan Division rival, 4-3 in overtime. Although only a preseason win, this game had great meaning for Rangers’ new head coach David Quinn, who was hired after the Rangers missed the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time in eight seasons, and the players involved.
Game Recap:
Nick Lappan of the New Jersey Devils opened the scoring 5:14 into the game to give his team the 1-0 lead. Nearly 9 minutes later, the Rangers tied the game with a short-handed goal from Lias Andersson. However, the game would not stay tied for long. 52 seconds after Andersson’s short-handed tally, John Quenneville scored on the power play to give the Devils back the lead. In the middle of the second period, Rangers forward Pavel Buchnevich scored right off the face off only 2 seconds into a Ranger power play, tying the game at 2. In the third period, Nick Lappan scored his second goal of the game on a power play. The Devils had a 3-2 lead. Less than a minute later, on a Rangers power play, Lias Andersson scored his second goal of the game to tie the game right back up. The game would go to overtime where Neil Pionk scored assited by Pavel Buchnevich and Jesper Fast to give the New York Rangers a 4-3 win.
Statistical Recap:
The Rangers started Alexander Georgiev in the net. Georgiev played for 36:48 stopping 16 out of the 18 shots he faced. Marek Mazanec also played for the Rangers during their preseason opener. Mazanec played for 24:32 and stopped 8 of 9 shots.
The Rangers out shot the Devils 28 to 27. The Devils won 54 percent of the face offs. The Rangers went 2 for 6 on the power play, while the Devils went 2 for 7. The Devils played a physical game and had 25 hits to the Rangers 15. The Rangers blocked 9 shots to the Devils 8 blocked shots. The Rangers controlled the puck in their first preseason game and had no giveaways. The Devils, however, had 7 giveaways.
Injury Update:
Mika Zibanejad, who took a hit to the head during practice, did not play in the preseason opener. Zibanejad missed part of the season last year with a concussion. Fortunately, head coach David Quinn said that Zibanejad is ok.
Christoval “Boo” Nieves left the game in the third period after taking a hit to the head from Devils’ defenseman Eric Gryba. No penalty was called. Although Gryba did not hit Nieves intentionally and did not elevate on the hit, he still hit Nieves in the head and should have penalized. No update was given on the condition of Nieves. As for the hit, Head Coach David Quinn says he’ll live it up to the league.
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