The 2022-23 season has been one of the most bizarre for the New York Rangers. Recently, the team has taken the moniker of one of the famous songs from Broadway’s musical “Hamilton.”
“Out-gunned and out-manned” against the playoff-tested Kings, the New York Rangers still found a way to pull off one of their gutsiest wins of the season by a 5-2 final.
“I said to the guys back in your minor hockey days everybody loved playing every second or third shift & the defense rolled and just played. You get into the game that way. Fortunately for us, we got away with it. The guys played one of their better games in a long time.” Rangers head coach Gerard Gallant said after the win.
In a game that saw goalie changes, key injuries, and bizarre penalties, each period brought something new and wacky to a game featuring two title-contending teams. It all started in the first period when an Alexis Lafreniere shot went off LA’s starting goaltender, Jonathan Quick for the game’s first goal. It was the first lead the Rangers had accumulated since February 15th.
From there, the game went off the rails with plays better to be believed in a television program.
Late in the first period, defenseman K’Andre Miller was ejected for spitting on Drew Doughty. The announcement came after a lengthy review in which the call was confirmed and put the Rangers, who were already down to five defenders, to run with just Adam Fox, Jacob Trouba, Niko Mikkola, and Ben Harpur for the rest of the night.
“I didn’t see it. I’m not saying it didn’t happen. The kid feels bad about it.” Gallant explained.
Still, New York’s undermanned defense was able to kill off the major penalty, and shortly later Vincent Trocheck would score twice within a minute and a half to put the Rangers up 3-0. Quick was quickly replaced by Pheonix Copley after giving up a goal where Trocheck’s pass was deflected by him by a LA defender.
Even with the lack of defensemen depth and a short…
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