Rangers Beaten By Kings, 4-3, In Overtime
The Rangers never trailed until the final goal Thursday after rallying for a 2-1 win Wednesday against the Ducks.
Henrik Lundqvist was terrific in goal for the Rangers, finishing with 33 saves, including 15 in the first period when the Kings jumped on the visitors who had just played a rugged match the night before. It was Lundqvist's first appearance against the Kings since the fifth and deciding game of the 2014 Stanley Cup Final which the Kings won in double overtime.
New York led 2-1 after two periods of play and quickly added to that advantage in the early stages of the third period. Kevin Hayes scored on the rebound of a Kevin Klein shot at 2:46, his 12th goal of the season giving the Rangers a 3-1 lead.
However the Kings answered right back exactly two minutes later when Jeff Carter found Kyle Clifford streaking between the circles and the wide-open winger rifled one into the net at 4:46 to cut the Rangers lead to 3-2.
Then a controversial goal evened things up with 4:10 remaining in regulation. Anze Kopitar neatly deflected a Milan Lucic shot into the net, but it appeared that Kings forward Tyler Toffoli was in Lundqvist's crease and making contact with the Rangers netminder. However the on-ice call that a goal had been scored held up after video review and the score was tied 3-3.
Another Kopitar deflection ended the game at 1:34 of overtime.
Dan Boyle's goal at the 13:05 mark of the second period had snapped a 1-1 tie and handed the Rangers their second lead of the night. Viktor Stalberg was Johnny On The Spot to collect a loose puck between the circles after Kings captain Dustin Brown's misplay. Stalberg quickly fed the disc to Boyle who roofed his seventh goal of the season--and first in 14 games--into the cage to put New York back in the lead.
Somewhat ironically it had been Brown who had tied the game, 1-1, at 11:53 of the opening period--carrying Boyle on his back from left circle to right before snapping his 11th goal through a Carter screen and past Lundqvist's blocker.
That goal by Brown came 19 seconds after J.T. Miller had opened the scoring at 11:34. Miller's 19th goal was unassisted after he picked up the puck in the neutral zone, sped over the blue line on right wing, and zipped a shot from the circle short side past Kings goalie Jonathan Quick. Miller had two points Thursday, also assisting on Hayes' third-period goal.
Immediately preceding Miller's game-opening goal, Lundqvist made a sensational one-on-one save to deny Tanner Pearson. It was one of several clutch stops Lundqvist made in the first period when the Kings jumped on the Rangers and outshot the visitors by a 16-9 margin.
Lundqvist opened the second period with a terrific early lunging left-pad save on a Drew Doughty bomb through traffic in front, one of 11 saves he made in the period as the Rangers carried that 2-1 lead into the intermission.
While the Rangers spent far more time defending against the aggressive heavy fore check deployed by the physical Kings, there was a two-play sequence late in the first period which required some magic by Quick to not end up in L.A.'s net.
First Mats Zuccarello zipped a cross-ice pass to Derick Brassard at the left post only to have Quick shoot across the crease to stone the slam-dunk attempt at 15:50. Then at 16:54 Quick robbed Tanner Glass who flew down the middle to one-time a slick feed from Stalberg.
BlueshirtsUnited.com
FINAL STATS
NY RANGERS 3 LA KINGS 4 FINAL OT
SOG: NYR 26 LAK 37
SCORING SUMMARY
1st Period
11:34 NYR J.T. Miller (19) Snap shot - ASST: NONE 1 - 0 NYR
11:53 LAK Dustin Brown (11) Snap shot - ASST: Jeff Carter (31), Luke Schenn (9) 1 - 1 Tie
2nd Period
13:05 NYR Dan Boyle (7) Snap shot - ASST: Viktor Stalberg (11) 2 - 1 NYR
3rd Period
02:46 NYR Kevin Hayes (12) Wrist shot - ASST: Kevin Klein (10), J.T. Miller (20) 3 - 1 NYR
04:46 LAK Kyle Clifford (2) Wrist shot - ASST: Jeff Carter (32), Dustin Brown (16) 3 - 2 NYR
15:50 LAK Anze Kopitar (23) Tip-in - ASST: Milan Lucic (29), Drew Doughty (32) 3 - 3 Tie
Overtime
01:34 LAK Anze Kopitar (24) Tip-in - ASST: Jake Muzzin (29), Jeff Carter (33) 4 - 3 LAK
PENALTY SUMMARY
1st Period
05:39 NYR Chris Kreider Hi-sticking - 2 min against Drew Doughty
09:50 LAK Vincent Lecavalier Cross checking - 2 min against Tanner Glass
09:50 NYR Tanner Glass Roughing - 2 min against Tanner Pearson
2nd Period
10:11 NYR Keith Yandle Interference - 2 min against Kris Versteeg
18:59 LAK Brayden McNabb Hooking - 2 min against Chris Kreider
3rd Period
NONE
Overtime
NONE
FINAL TEAM STATS
Category NYR LAK
Power Plays 0/1 0/2
Hits 26 31
Faceoff Wins 25 33
Giveaways 12 12
Takeaways 3 4
Blocked Shots 15 9
Penalty Minutes 6 4
THREE STARS OF THE GAME
1. LAK Anze Kopitar
2. LAK Dustin Brown
3. NYR JT MILLER
NEXT GAME
Rangers return to action on Saturday Afternoon March 19 at 4:00 PM as they take on the San Jose Sharks in the last of a 3 game California Road Trip.
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