LDN - Sports

Hayes' goal with 1:09 left lifts Rangers over Jets

[December 09, 2016] WINNIPEG, Manitoba -- With a relentless pursuit of the puck all game long, the New York Rangers were rewarded with a last-minute ricochet that produced the winning goal in a 2-1 victory over the Winnipeg Jets on Thursday night.

With many in the crowd at the MTS Centre likely expecting overtime to be in the offing, the Rangers made a final push on the power play in the dying minutes of regulation and defenseman Ryan McDonagh found the puck on his stick in the high slot. His wrist shot didn't get through but it caromed off the stick of Jets center Adam Lowry and on to the blade of center Kevin Hayes, who was all alone to the left of an empty net as goaltender Michael Hutchinson had come out to cut down the angle. Hayes calmly tapped in his 11th of the season with 1:09 remaining.

"I think it was a greasy goal, a point shot off about three guys," Hayes said. "I just tipped it in. That was definitely puck luck, for sure."

Hutchinson knew something was amiss when he didn't feel McDonagh's shot hit him or hear it hit the boards behind him.

"As soon as he went to release it a bunch of traffic came into my eyesight. I didn't hear anything then my peripheral vision caught the puck to my right. I tried to push over but I just couldn't get there," he said.

Puck luck, maybe, but you've got to be good to be lucky and there's no question the Rangers were good. The blue shirts outshot the Jets in every period and 24-18 for the game, went 2 for 4 on the power play and killed off all three penalties called against them.

Rangers goaltender Antti Raanta stopped 17 shots while Hutchinson made 22 saves in a battle of backup goalies.

The Rangers strategy on their penalty killing unit was obvious -- stick to sniper Patrik Laine like glue, effectively turning the Jets man advantage into a four-on-three. Laine, who is second in league scoring with 17 goals behind Sidney Crosby, was not a factor in this contest.

Left winger Chris Kreider gave the Rangers a 1-0 first period lead with his seventh of the year and the Jets replied in the second frame when their leading scorer, Mark Scheifele, potted his 14th of the season. It was Scheifele's first game back after missing three games with a leg injury.

Rangers coach Alain Vigneault knew his troops weren't painting a Rembrandt with their aggressive forechecking and dumping the puck out of their own zone and he didn't care.

"I love wins and the score doesn't really matter,'' Vigneault said. "I thought tonight we played a good game. We had a real strong first period. In the second period, they had a good push. Their defence was really active on their forecheck and made it a little bit more challenging for us.

"Going into the third, we had two penalties to kill and we did a really good job there. And we had a bounce in the third to get us that 2-1 lead. We should have had some bounces in the first, we had some open nets we weren't able to cash in on. But we found a way in the end to win the game and that's where it counts."

Jets fans may have been relieved to see the Rangers No. 1 netminder Henrik Lundqvist on the bench but Raanta is no slouch. In fact, virtually all of his statistics are superior to Lundqvist's this season. He has a goals-against average of 2.05, compared to Lundqvist's 2.55, and a .932 save percentage to the Swedish veteran's 9.12. Raanta is 6-1-0; Lundqvist 12-8-1.

"We wanted defense and then play smart," Raanta said. "We got a couple power-play goals. Special teams came (up) big for us tonight."

[to top of second column]

Rangers right wing Kevin Hayes (13) celebrates his goal with teammates Nicklas Jensen (39) and center J.T. Miller (10) and defenseman Nick Holden (22) during the third period against the Winnipeg Jets at MTS Centre. Rangers win 2-1. Mandatory Credit: Bruce Fedyck-USA TODAY Sports

He was particularly impressed with the penalty killing in front of him.

"The guys have been doing a great job this season,'' Raanta said. "I think the first penalty in the third period, we didn't give them any (offensive) zone time at all. The second one was just a great job of blocking the shots and taking the passes away.

"It's a great thing to be a goalie when the guys do that kind of job in front of you. Everybody's putting their whole body on the line."

The winning goal was not without controversy, however. Jets winger Drew Stafford was called for high sticking defenseman Dan Girardi with just less than three minutes remaining in regulation. Girardi's head snapped back but the referees heard about it when the scoreboard replays appeared to show some degree of embellishment.

Neither Stafford nor Jets coach Paul Maurice were about to complain, though.

"I don't know (if it was a sell job). If I did (clip him) then I have to control my stick a little better. My first reaction was it was a little bit of a sell but they made the call," Stafford said.

Maurice couldn't tell either but whether Stafford hit him in the face with his stick doesn't matter because he was carrying it too high in the latter stages of the game anyway.

"It's a high stick, it's up there,'' Maurice said. "Whether you think you're right or not, it doesn't matter. You have to learn how to play with your stick on the ice and get your body in the right spots."

The Rangers hightailed it out of the rink with two points in their pocket and to the airport to take a flight to Chicago for Friday's game against the Blackhawks.

NOTES: In the press box for the Jets were D Mark Stuart, LW Kyle Connor and C Alex Burmistrov. ... Joining them from the Rangers are LW Rick Nash, LW Jimmy Vesey and D Adam Clendening. ... The Rangers have players from eight different countries on their roster -- Canada, U.S., Austria, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Slovakia and Norway. ... The Jets outscored their opposition 36-27 in the third period and overtime this season, tied for the league lead through Wednesday's games. ... Jets C Bryan Little leads the team in faceoff percentage at 55.7 after winning 11 of 19 on Thursday. ... Rangers coach Alain Vignault and assistant Scott Arniel both served as coach of the Manitoba Moose when it was the AHL affiliate of the Vancouver Canucks.

Back to top