Rangers Win Streak Hits Eight

New York Rangers’ Antti Raanta (32), of Finland, makes a save on a shot by Arizona Coyotes’ Tobias Rieder (8), of Germany, during the first period of an NHL hockey game Saturday, Nov. 7, 2015, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo | Ross D. Franklin)

The New York Rangers have now won eight consecutive games tying their third longest winning streak in franchise history. It certainly wasn’t easy though as the Rangers had to battle it out with the Ottawa Senators all the way into a shootout before finally finishing on top 2-1.

All the scoring came at the beginning of the game and at the end which left plenty of time in the middle for some fireworks. Chris Kreider opened the scoring with a power play goal just two and a half minutes into the game. Ottawa then quickly leveled the score four minutes later with a power play goal of their own from Erik Karlsson.

Then in the second period things really took off in a physical way. Between the two teams there were eight penalties in the second and the majority of those came from Chris Kreider standing up for Derek Stepan following a headshot delivered to him from Zack Smith. Smith, with no intention of playing the puck skated over and hit Stepan in the head and that did not sit well with the Rangers. Kreider received a 10 minute misconduct, an instigator penalty, and a five minute major penalty for fighting Smith.

Ryan McDonagh said after the game that Kreider standing up for Stepan “definitely lifted the whole team.”

The Rangers have sometimes been criticized in the past for not being physical enough with opponents following a dirty hit or play but today there’s no doubt Chris Kreider did his due diligence for Stepan.

It was certainly a rallying point for the teams as they would go on to win in a shootout on the road in Ottawa which is certainly not an easy place to play. Mats Zuccarello and Dan Boyle each netted in the shootout to give the Rangers the win, Lundqvist for his part made two saves out of three.

This win now brings the Rangers to 28 points which is good for a tie with the Montreal Canadiens for first in the Eastern Conference and in the NHL altogether!

The Rangers will go for nine straight wins on Sunday when they take on the Toronto Maple Leafs at 7:00 PM on MSG.