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NEW YORK - Whatever it takes, Sam Rosen is hellbent on covering postseason games in his final season as the Rangers’ play-by-play voice.
“I'm trying to drag this team into the playoffs with me,” the New City resident quipped before Saturday’s “Salute to Sam” ceremony at Madison Square Garden. "I walk around the locker room at practice giving them encouragement. ‘Come on, guys, you can do it!’ They're not listening to me, but hopefully that'll change in the next couple of weeks."
There’s still work to be done to extend the legendary broadcaster's career, but he may have inspired some magic to help the cause.
The Rangers had little business defeating the Vancouver Canucks, who largely dominated Saturday’s contest, yet they stumbled their way into a 5-3 win.
"It's a little bit of that," forward Jonny Brodzinski said with a smile when asked about the Sam Rosen Effect. "It's a little bit of shades of last year, too. So many come-from-behind wins, and there are a lot of the same players on this team. So, just being resilient. We need wins right now."
Brodzinski led the charge in a chaotic third period that featured six total goals.
The Rangers (34-31-6) scored four of them, including a pair from the unheralded journeymen who continues to prove his worth down the stretch. Brodzinski's second put them on top for good with 4:13 to play.
"He's been a really valuable piece," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's played all the positions, he's moved up and down the lineup, and he certainly has a capability offensively to deliver."
That snapped a three-game losing streak and moved New York into a temporary tie with Montreal for the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot. The Canadiens have three games in hand, though, with one scheduled to be played Saturday evening against the dangerous Colorado Avalanche.
The win came in spite of being outshot, 39-12, to continue a stretch of uninspiring play on this 1-3 homestand.
The 12 shots on goal tied for New York's worst output of the season and came after posting only 13 in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
"We were just slow," Laviolette said. "We're looking for too many things east-west when we should be delivering pucks."
The Rangers were especially bad during what Laviolette described as a "dead" first period.
They managed only one SOG, which represented their lowest total in any period this season. Meanwhile, they allowed 11 on top of eight high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"There’s no excuse for it," Laviolette said. "We're at a point in the season where we can't start a game like that. We didn't have the speed they did. We need to possess the puck. We didn't."
The Canucks had the Rangers pinned in their own essentially the entire time, with Dakota Joshua staking them a 1-0 lead at the 11:51 mark. It came off a Quinn Hughes’ rebound, after the Norris Trophy contender deked rookie Matt Rempe off his feet to clear a path to the net.
Laviolette responded by juggling the lines for second period, and while Adam Fox found a way to tie the score by tipping in a shot from Braden Schneider at the 11:03 mark, the overall product didn't look much better.
That led to what Brodzinski described as "a little bit of yelling in the locker room" heading into the third.
"It's all turnovers," he said. "Every single time we're getting in the neutral zone, it's trying to make a cute play. ... We're doing too many things to hurt ourselves. We're not finishing checks. We weren't getting pucks deep, and when we were, we had one guy going hard (and) we had two guys kind of sitting back in our lock."
The final score indicates that the Rangers finally turned it around in the third, but an honest observer should know better.
They surrendered 15 shots in the final 20 minutes while mustering only five of their own. Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen posted a ghastly .636 save percentage, while Igor Shesterkin finished with 36 saves.
"There's a reason why they pay him so much money," Brodzinski said. "He's the best goalie in the league. The reason why you do that is because he makes saves like that. You’ve got Quinn Hughes walking right down the slot three times in that third period, and he's making big-time saves. He makes it look easy."
Shesterkin gives the Rangers a puncher's chance every game, but the product in front of him doesn't look playoff worthy.
New York has gone three straight games with five HD chances or fewer, including a season-low three on Saturday.
"We need to play better than that going forward," J.T. Miller said. "It's not necessarily chances. It's the battles and puck decisions through the neutral zone. The thing that every single team talks about is the same thing – your will and your compete in your battles, and don't turn pucks over. I find when we don't do those things, we get outplayed. They control the play, and then we're disconnected because we haven't had the puck all period, and now we try something and the dominoes fall."
New York’s miraculous victory was aided by a critical play from Miller against his former team.
He outraced the Canucks in transition and made a heads-up pass from behind the net to Brodzinski, who finished to put the Rangers on top, 2-1, with 18:21 to play.
That ended a three-game point drought for Miller, who was shot out of a cannon after being acquired from Vancouver on Jan. 31 but has slowed down in recent weeks.
“Some of my best friends are on that team,” Miller said prior to the game. “We’re going to dinner (Friday), but once (Saturday) comes, it's going to be a war, and I think we all understand that. We would rather it be that way anyway. It's all business when we get out there.”
The Canucks tied the score at 2-2 on Drew O’Connor’s goal with 8:38 to play, with Victor Mancini – a defenseman prospect who was sent to Vancouver as part of the Miller trade – making a key play to earn an assist against his former team.
K'Andre Miller put the Rangers back on top 1:18 later, followed by another tying goal, this time from Vancouver's Brock Boeser with 4:50 to play.
Brodzinski put the Blueshirts on top for good 37 seconds later, followed by an empty-netter from J.T. Miller.
"That’s a fun game," J.T. Miller said. "You want to win this one, but this time of year, though, it's just more about the team and where we're headed and what we're trying to accomplish. It's not just because me and (Carson Soucy) were playing against our old team today. Yeah, it's nice to beat them, for sure. You want to win that one, but it's just another game this time of year. The games are so meaningful."
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Postgame takeaways: NY Rangers pull out miraculous win for Sam Rosen
Continue reading...
“I'm trying to drag this team into the playoffs with me,” the New City resident quipped before Saturday’s “Salute to Sam” ceremony at Madison Square Garden. "I walk around the locker room at practice giving them encouragement. ‘Come on, guys, you can do it!’ They're not listening to me, but hopefully that'll change in the next couple of weeks."
There’s still work to be done to extend the legendary broadcaster's career, but he may have inspired some magic to help the cause.
The Rangers had little business defeating the Vancouver Canucks, who largely dominated Saturday’s contest, yet they stumbled their way into a 5-3 win.
"It's a little bit of that," forward Jonny Brodzinski said with a smile when asked about the Sam Rosen Effect. "It's a little bit of shades of last year, too. So many come-from-behind wins, and there are a lot of the same players on this team. So, just being resilient. We need wins right now."
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Brodzinski led the charge in a chaotic third period that featured six total goals.
The Rangers (34-31-6) scored four of them, including a pair from the unheralded journeymen who continues to prove his worth down the stretch. Brodzinski's second put them on top for good with 4:13 to play.
"He's been a really valuable piece," head coach Peter Laviolette said. "He's played all the positions, he's moved up and down the lineup, and he certainly has a capability offensively to deliver."
That snapped a three-game losing streak and moved New York into a temporary tie with Montreal for the Eastern Conference’s final wild-card spot. The Canadiens have three games in hand, though, with one scheduled to be played Saturday evening against the dangerous Colorado Avalanche.
A 'dead' period
The win came in spite of being outshot, 39-12, to continue a stretch of uninspiring play on this 1-3 homestand.
The 12 shots on goal tied for New York's worst output of the season and came after posting only 13 in Tuesday's 2-1 loss to the Calgary Flames.
"We were just slow," Laviolette said. "We're looking for too many things east-west when we should be delivering pucks."
The Rangers were especially bad during what Laviolette described as a "dead" first period.
They managed only one SOG, which represented their lowest total in any period this season. Meanwhile, they allowed 11 on top of eight high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick.
"There’s no excuse for it," Laviolette said. "We're at a point in the season where we can't start a game like that. We didn't have the speed they did. We need to possess the puck. We didn't."
The Canucks had the Rangers pinned in their own essentially the entire time, with Dakota Joshua staking them a 1-0 lead at the 11:51 mark. It came off a Quinn Hughes’ rebound, after the Norris Trophy contender deked rookie Matt Rempe off his feet to clear a path to the net.
Laviolette responded by juggling the lines for second period, and while Adam Fox found a way to tie the score by tipping in a shot from Braden Schneider at the 11:03 mark, the overall product didn't look much better.
That led to what Brodzinski described as "a little bit of yelling in the locker room" heading into the third.
"It's all turnovers," he said. "Every single time we're getting in the neutral zone, it's trying to make a cute play. ... We're doing too many things to hurt ourselves. We're not finishing checks. We weren't getting pucks deep, and when we were, we had one guy going hard (and) we had two guys kind of sitting back in our lock."
Igor Shesterkin worth every penny
The final score indicates that the Rangers finally turned it around in the third, but an honest observer should know better.
They surrendered 15 shots in the final 20 minutes while mustering only five of their own. Vancouver goalie Kevin Lankinen posted a ghastly .636 save percentage, while Igor Shesterkin finished with 36 saves.
"There's a reason why they pay him so much money," Brodzinski said. "He's the best goalie in the league. The reason why you do that is because he makes saves like that. You’ve got Quinn Hughes walking right down the slot three times in that third period, and he's making big-time saves. He makes it look easy."
Shesterkin gives the Rangers a puncher's chance every game, but the product in front of him doesn't look playoff worthy.
New York has gone three straight games with five HD chances or fewer, including a season-low three on Saturday.
"We need to play better than that going forward," J.T. Miller said. "It's not necessarily chances. It's the battles and puck decisions through the neutral zone. The thing that every single team talks about is the same thing – your will and your compete in your battles, and don't turn pucks over. I find when we don't do those things, we get outplayed. They control the play, and then we're disconnected because we haven't had the puck all period, and now we try something and the dominoes fall."
J.T. Miller makes big play vs. former team
New York’s miraculous victory was aided by a critical play from Miller against his former team.
He outraced the Canucks in transition and made a heads-up pass from behind the net to Brodzinski, who finished to put the Rangers on top, 2-1, with 18:21 to play.
That ended a three-game point drought for Miller, who was shot out of a cannon after being acquired from Vancouver on Jan. 31 but has slowed down in recent weeks.
“Some of my best friends are on that team,” Miller said prior to the game. “We’re going to dinner (Friday), but once (Saturday) comes, it's going to be a war, and I think we all understand that. We would rather it be that way anyway. It's all business when we get out there.”
The Canucks tied the score at 2-2 on Drew O’Connor’s goal with 8:38 to play, with Victor Mancini – a defenseman prospect who was sent to Vancouver as part of the Miller trade – making a key play to earn an assist against his former team.
K'Andre Miller put the Rangers back on top 1:18 later, followed by another tying goal, this time from Vancouver's Brock Boeser with 4:50 to play.
Brodzinski put the Blueshirts on top for good 37 seconds later, followed by an empty-netter from J.T. Miller.
"That’s a fun game," J.T. Miller said. "You want to win this one, but this time of year, though, it's just more about the team and where we're headed and what we're trying to accomplish. It's not just because me and (Carson Soucy) were playing against our old team today. Yeah, it's nice to beat them, for sure. You want to win that one, but it's just another game this time of year. The games are so meaningful."
Vincent Z. Mercogliano is the New York Rangers beat reporter for the USA TODAY Network. Read more of his work at lohud.com/sports/rangers/ and follow him on Twitter @vzmercogliano.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Postgame takeaways: NY Rangers pull out miraculous win for Sam Rosen
Continue reading...
