NEW YORK — It won’t be the Tom Wilson play at Madison Square Garden that New York Rangers fans despise most, but it won’t be their favorite, either.
Late in overtime, after Mika Zibanejad wasn’t able to connect with J.T. Miller for a game-winner, Wilson grabbed the puck and led a two-on-one rush with Dylan Strome. He passed to his teammate, who toe-dragged around Braden Schneider and returned the puck to Wilson for a backdoor goal.
“Those games are always fun to win,” said Wilson, who is despised among Rangers fans for a takedown of Artemi Panarin in the 2020-21 season. “The effort, the pushback, the drive, you want to get rewarded.”
The Rangers got a partial reward: a point for reaching overtime in the 3-2 loss. In Chicago, the Ottawa Senators won and now hold the second wild-card spot because they have a game in hand. New York plays in Ottawa on Saturday in a game that will carry major playoff implications.
New York players were frustrated after the loss, but they also stressed that there were good elements of their game. Igor Shesterkin staved off several of Washington’s most dangerous looks, and New York had more than 50 percent of the five-on-five expected goal share on the night, according to Natural Stat Trick. But Wilson’s last-minute overtime goal sullied what would have been a quality win against the East’s top team.
“We’ll take the point,” said Sam Carrick, who scored the second and final Rangers goal of the night, his sixth of the season. “They’re a very well-built team, they play very physical. I think we were able to match that. … We’re right there in these games. We’ve got to move forward.”
Here are five takeaways:
Power play struggles
New York had four power plays, including a double-minor from an Ethan Frank high stick that drew blood, but failed to capitalize on any of them. Washington goalie Charlie Lindgren only had to make three saves at six-on-five. The unit failed to find shooting lanes and had only one particularly dangerous look, which came when Artemi Panarin found Vincent Trocheck in front of the net. Lindgren made the save.
“The power play could have probably helped us,” Mika Zibanejad said. “It’s how it goes. It’s a good team we’re playing against, but it still stings not to get two (points in the standings).”
Meanwhile, the penalty kill allowed a goal on one of Washington’s four tries. The special-teams battle was the difference.
Fight club in the second period
Acquired from Colorado over the weekend, Juuso Pärssinen hasn’t been with the Rangers for long, but when he saw Matt Roy check Brennan Othmann into the boards in the second period, he came to his new teammate’s defense. He went straight after Roy and the two had a short fight.
It might not have been the most glamorous fight, but it was a quick way for Pärssinen to impress new teammates. Vincent Trocheck, Zibanejad, Jonny Brodzinski and Brett Berard all came to the penalty box to give him either a stick tap or fist bump. J.T. Miller grabbed Pärssinen’s glove and brought it over for him. It was only the second fight of his NHL career, per HockeyFights.com.
“Especially for a new guy, that’s a great way just to build some chemistry and really bond together as a team,” Carrick said. “That’s what you need to come together as a team: stick up for each other. And Pärs did a great job getting in there when he saw our guy go down.”
“I feel like our group is coming together more and more,” Zibanejad added. “You can tell by the way we play, the way we stand up for each other.”
It was the second fight of the period after Carrick threw hands with Brandon Duhaime. Matt Rempe and Tom Wilson were jawing when the center swooped in and gave the Washington winger a shove. Duhaime took exception, leading to their bout.
“I know (Duhaime) well,” Carrick said. “I’ve fought him before, and there was a game a couple years ago where he gave me a fight. I think I just kind of returned the favor tonight. I wasn’t thrilled with how things were going. They had some momentum. I figured that was probably a pretty good time to try to spark the boys.”
Jones continues to log ice time
Zac Jones has been waiting for consistent playing time, and he’s gotten a taste of it with Adam Fox out of the lineup with an upper-body injury. The 24-year-old was a healthy scratch all of January, but Peter Laviolette now has him on the Rangers’ top power play. That, combined with regular shifts, has led to him playing at least 18:31 in each of the past three games.
Jones and the top power play unit weren’t able to generate much throughout the night, but the defenseman made a beautiful play at five-on-five earlier in the period to set up a goal. He received a puck from Alexis Lafrenière while entering the zone, then fired a perfect pass, which Artemi Panarin redirected past Charlie Lindgren. It’s his second consecutive game with an assist.
His underlying metrics were good, too: the Rangers had 64 percent of the expected goal share with him on the ice at five-on-five.
Jones did, however, commit a hooking penalty trying to stop a Lars Eller drive to the net in the third period. That led to Alex Ovechkin’s game-tying goal.
Struggle to generate in third
New York dominated chunks of the first two periods, but it didn’t generate much of anything in the final frame with only three shots. Washington, meanwhile, had eight shots and a pair of power plays, one of which led to the 885th goal of Ovechkin’s career.
“We’re trying to protect a lead there,” Carrick said. “I think we can be a little more aggressive if that happens rather than sitting back a little bit. They’re going to press hard. We don’t want to be giving them power plays like we did. I think that plays a big role in their momentum.”
Some Lindgren family revenge
The Rangers traded away defenseman Ryan Lindgren over the weekend. His brother Charlie made 15 saves to help Washington win.
“It felt good to get a win for my brother and, obviously, for the team here,” Charlie said. “My brother laid it on the line every single night for this team. He loved being a Ranger, loved the group over there. I know for a fact they’re definitely going to miss him. There’s going to be a big hole back there.”
(Top photo of Lars Eller and Igor Shesterkin: Wendell Cruz / Imagn Images)
