The Rangers finished 2-0-1 on their three-game road trip thanks to a pair of goals by Artemi Panarin. New York rallied from three, one-goal deficits to win, aided by a Reilly Smith shorthanded goal and Chris Kreider even strength tally in the third period. The Blueshirts have two big games this weekend versus Columbus (home) and Montreal (road)

Game recap:






Rangers lines vs. Utah:
Panarin-Trocheck-Lafrenière
Cuylle-Zibanejad-Smith
Kreider-Chytil-Kaliyev
Edström-Carrick-Rempe

Lindgren-Fox
Miller-Borgen
Vaakanainen-Schneider

Shesterkin
Quick

Scratches: Vesey, Jones, Brodzinski

A few thoughts:
1) Resilience: watching the game the first period, I was getting a deju vu all over again thought running through my head. New York looked very similar to what we saw during the losing streak. A step slow, not fully engaged, allowing the opponent to dictate time and space. Fortunately for the Rangers, they ended the period tied at two. Despite giving up an early power-play goal, the improved structure we have seen lately was on full display the last two periods.

The Rangers allowed 15 shots in the first 20 minutes, Final two periods, only 16 shots allowed. In the third, as Arthur Staple noted, they led the Utah Hockey Club in shots (11-8) and five-on-five scoring chances (11-3, per Natural Stat Trick) and scored three unanswered goals to cap a win. The defense is a work in progress, the attitude as well, but both are on the uptick, especially to what we saw before the Xmas break.

2) Chris Kreider/Arthur Kaliyev - Kreider may have had his best game in weeks. He was active, aggressive and hunting the puck. He was moved back during the game to the top PP and used on the 5-on-3 to create a screen in front, which is the role he played on Kaliyev's goal off, as his net front presence helped result in a rebound that was put home. 

Kaliyev is living up to his shoot-first reputation, He is getting more comfortable. I am not sold on him, but his sold game resulted in a move up to the second line during the contest, The Kreider-Chytil-Kaliyev trio, as noted by Staple, had an 85 percent of the expected goal share at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick, pretty damn good.

3) Defense - the Urho Vaakanainen-Braden Schneider duo was excellent last night. I thought Ryan Lindgren had his best game in a while. I get the Adam Fox concern and he is not back to where he was before the injuries, but he is still pretty good. The view of limiting his PK TOI makes sense, but when he is right, his decision making and ability to avoid big hits and move the puck is a major plus. K'Andre Miller-Will Borgen ahd some rebound control issues in front of the net, but still were good overall. 

4) Sam Carrick has far exceeded his $1 million a year salary. His addition has bolstered the bottom six, as he has been excellent 5x5 and on the PK. On the flip side, Matt Rempe played just 5:33, seeing basically one shift the last two periods, as Peter Laviolette said he doubled up certain forwards to hunt goals. Make of that what you will. 

5) New York is back over .500, at 21-20-3. The five points earned and 4-1-2 mark lately has gotten them back into playoff contention. The next four games matter tremendously, as they face squads ahead of them in the standings. Matchups versus the Blue Jackets, Canadiens, Senators and Red Wings loom. The run up to the 4 Nations will be telling, as the Blueshirts play eight of their next 11 at home.

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