As the games have gotten bigger and bigger, the Rangers seemed to be getting smaller and smaller.
But after being outplayed and largely embarrassed for two periods on Saturday by the Vancouver Canucks in the finale of their homestand, the Rangers got two third-period goals by Jonny Brodzinski to pull out an unlikely 5-3 victory over the Canucks at the Garden that kept them from getting swept on the homestand and kept their hopes alive in the playoff race.
Brodzinki’s second goal of the game, and ninth of the season, came with 4:13 remaining, 37 seconds after Brock Boeser’s goal had tied it at 3-3.
K’Andre Miller’s goal at 12:40 of the third period appeared as if it would be the winner for the Rangers, as it put them ahead, 3-2. But Boeser tied it with 4:50 remaining — he won a battle with Miller on the back wall behind the Rangers’ net and came out front to beat Igor Shesterkin. Miller had lost his stick.
The Rangers 34-31-6, improved to 74 points on the season, momentarily tying them with Montreal for the second and final wild card playoff spot in the Eastern Conference, with Montreal hosting Colorado later Saturday.
Despite the ice being tilted heavily against them, the Rangers somehow were tied, 1-1, after two periods despite being outshot 24-6. Brodzinski’s goal, against the run of play, at 1:39 of the third period, gave them an unlikely — and probably undeserved — 2-1 lead. Brodzinski got lost in the offensive zone as J.T. Miller, the ex-Canuck, dug the puck out of the corner and headed behind the goal line. Miller’s pass found Brodzinski all alone in the slot and he buried it at 1:39 for his eighth goal of the season.
The shots on goal at the time were 25-8 in favor of Vancouver. Ultimately they Rangers were outshot 40-12.
But Drew O’Connor tied it at 11:22 when he banged in the rebound of a shot by Nils Aman on a play created by former Rangers prospect Victor Mancini, who was traded to the Canucks as part of theJ. T. Miller deal. Mancini carried the puck behind the Rangers’ net and passed to Aman to set up the initial shot.
No doubt reeling from having lost the first three games of the homestand, the Rangers might have hoped to get a boost from the pregame celebration of longtime TV play by play man Sam Rosen, who is retiring at the end of the season. But they got no boost from the celebration. Instead, they came out with one of their most lifeless first periods of the season.
They were outshot 11-1 in the opening period, and the scoring chances were 14-4 in favor of Vancouver, according to the analytics site Natural Stat Trick. High-danger chances, according to the site, were 8-1, Vancouver.
And the score was 1-0, Canucks, on the strength of a goal by Dakota Joshua at 11:51. The performance was bad enough that the Garden crowd gave a mock cheer when Alexis Lafreniere launched a shot from 48 feet out that was easily saved by Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen at the start of the second period.
The next time the crowd cheered, for real, was when Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin grabbed Vancouver forward Kiefer Sherwood in a headlock while the Rangers were killing a penalty, resulting in a roughing call to the goalie. The crowd appreciated the goalie’s fire, and applauded, and changed, “Igor! Igor!’’
But then, with the scoreboard showing the shots on goal as 21-3 in favor of the Canucks, the Rangers somehow tied it up when Braden Schneider fired a harmless-looking shot from the right point that was tipped in by Adam Fox at 11:03.
J.T. Miller got the final insurance goal against his old team into an empty net with 17 seconds remaining.
