Mood pic.twitter.com/Uh1xlBj61B
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) October 12, 2018
The young New York Rangers were in desperate need for a win against a tough Sharks team led by Brett Howden and company.
- San Jose Sharks: 2 (2-2-1, 5 points)
- New York Rangers: 3 (1-3-0, 2 points)
- SJS Goal Scorers: Marcus Sorensen (1), Joonas Donskoi (1)
- NYR Goal Scorers: Brett Howden (2), Brendan Smith (1), Brady Skjei (1)
- NHL, Final (OT), Boxscore.
- Madison Square Garden, New York, NY.
Just when it looked like the New York Rangers were going to come up short again in this young season, they ended up surprising you.
They were outshot 43-27 for the game, trailed 2-1 in the dying minutes, yet still found a way to win it 3-2 in overtime.
How they got there? A little help from the young guns and relying on their rock, Henrik Lundqvist.
Lundqvist was forced to be on top of his game from the start as his Blueshirts were outshot 17-6 in the first period, 33-15 through 40 minutes. If not for him and the great play of the young Brett Howden, this might be a different game.
Outside of the Lundqvist’s solid play, Howden was the story of the first 20 minutes. His in between the legs goal has the rest of the league on notice
Pretty sure the @NYRangers are loving the fact that @B_Howdy21 is part of the squad. #SJSvsNYR pic.twitter.com/E3eCPn2M7n
— NHL (@NHL) October 11, 2018
But that was all the Rangers offense could manage off Sharks backup netminder Aaron Dell, as his Sharks were carrying a 2-1 lead into the final stages of this one. A lead they probably felt could have been more if Lundqvist had not made safe after safe.
Hank flashing the glove! What a save! #NYR pic.twitter.com/LpHFMZM2M7
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) October 12, 2018
The feeling in the Garden was that the young Blueshirts were going to fight but, they would end up short. All until Brendan Smith put a one-timer past Dell, giving him his first goal since Jan. 14, 2018 and forcing this game to overtime.
If you left your seat for even a second during the overtime period you would have missed Brady Skjei doing what the Rangers had hoped he would do all of last season.
Skjei showed great patience and on a delayed penalty got the puck past Dell 37 seconds into OT to give the Rangers their first win of 2018-19.
Brady Skjei does that hockey & gets the @NYRangers & Coach Quinn their first win!!!#NYR pic.twitter.com/L3w6NUnCgc
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) October 12, 2018
The win was not only the Blueshirts’ first win of the season but, it was the first career win for David Quinn as a head coach in the NHL.
Quinn has his young Blueshirts taking positive strides. There are still some things he would like to see done better, like limit the amount of odd-man rushes. Despite that, it has to feel nice for him to finally get that first win out of the way.
He and the rest of the team will look to get win number two when Connor McDavid and the Oilers come to town Saturday afternoon.
