Raanta shuts out Sharks, gives Rangers lift
Thanks in large part to a 22-save shutout from goalie Antti Raanta the New York Rangers were able to snap their three-game losing streak on Monday night with a 4-0 win over the San Jose Sharks in the NHL’s only game of the evening.
Sharks goalie Martin Jones entered Monday’s game having allowed just two goals over his first four starts of the season and at one point went more than 200 minutes of hockey without allowing anything to get behind him. The Rangers doubled that goals against total in only 60 minutes on Monday night thanks to goals from Marc Staal, Mats Zuccarello, Jesper Fast and Viktor Stalberg.
What else happened on Monday night? Here are three things to know.
1. The Rangers offense came through
The Rangers’ offense has been pretty hit-and-miss so far this season. They had a couple of outbursts over the first three games of the season that saw them score in bunches, but then followed that with just two goals in the three games that followed.
When you combine that with the fact they were playing Martin Jones on Monday, one of the hottest goalies in the league through the first two weeks, it seemed like it might be another difficult night for them offensively, especially after playing on Sunday.
But the Rangers were relentless on the attack and received goals from all over the lineup. That’s part of what has made the Rangers so dangerous in recent years. Even if you shut down their first-or second-line, they have players on their third-and fourth-lines that can beat you. We saw that on Monday.
2. Antti Raanta’s first Rangers start was pretty much perfect
Henrik Lundqvist had a rare night off for the Rangers on Monday night and it gave Raanta an opportunity to make his New York debut after he was acquired in an offseason trade with the Chicago Blackhawks.
It would be hard to make a better first impression than the one Raanta made.
He stopped all 22 shots he faced, with his best coming in the third period when he made this pad stop on Sharks forward Tomas Hertl.
Heck of a kick save by Raanta #NYR pic.twitter.com/m2gahxOSEs
— Ryan Ohanesian (@ryanohan) October 20, 2015
For as good as Raanta was throughout the night, he also had a lot of help from the guys in front of him. He made the saves he needed to make (and some of them were very impressive, like the one shown above) but just as important was the play of his teammates in front of him defensively.
They were great on the penalty kill in the second period when they killed off consecutive Sharks power plays (including a 23-second 5-on-3 advantage) and blocked 21 shot of the Sharks’ 49 total shot attempts.
3. Rick Nash is getting closer to scoring
Rick Nash has now gone seven games to start the season without finding the back of the net, and that’s never good for Rick Nash. Not only because he’s not scoring, but because he is one of the players that makes people lose their minds when he’s not scoring, no matter how well he is playing. Whatever you want to say about his performance over the first six games of the season, his line was outstanding on Monday night and Nash was a driving force behind that even if he didn’t actually score one of the goals (it looked like his stick might have deflected the Mats Zuccarello shot that beat Jones in the second period to give the Rangers a 2-0 lead, but that goal, for now, is still credited to Zuccarello). When he was on the ice during even-strength play the Rangers attempted 17 shots and allowed only eight. That was the best shot differential of any player that played on Monday. You keep carrying the play like that, and eventually the goals are going to come.
At the end of the day, the Rangers are 4-2-1 through their first seven games even though they haven’t played anything close to their best hockey yet and are still waiting for Nash and Chris Kreider, two of their best offensive players, to score. Those guys aren’t going to get shut out forever, and when they start to get going, this is once again going to be one of the toughest teams in the league to beat.
Antti Raanta stopped all 22 shots he faced for the New York Rangers on Monday night. (USATSI)
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
