Henrik Lundqvist lifts New York Rangers to fifth straight win over Phoenix Coyotes 2-1 in Shootout
A heart pounding encounter was played out at the packed Madison Square Garden with the New York Rangers, who barely managed to edge the Phoenix Coyotes for a 2-1 shootout win on Tuesday, January 9, 2012.
The Rangers managed to continue their brilliant winning run after the shootout as they grabbed their fifth straight victory.
New York improved to a 27-9-4 record as they maintained their pole position at the top of the Eastern Conference.
"We had guys step up at key times and we found a way to win", Rangers' coach, John Tortorella, said.
"Smitty (Mike Smith) played well but Henrik played really well. This was one of those games where we just had to stick with it".
The Coyotes were unlucky to lose the encounter after the shootout as it all boils down to luck and was especially painful for Phoenix's goaltender, Mike Smith, who put in a wonderful performance in front of his net, making 31 saves.
Smith diverted attack after attack by Rangers but in the end, all his efforts were undone as New York's forward, Marion Gaborik, beat the goalie to keep the shootout alive, while Derek Stepan stepped up to put away the winner.
"I thought Mike Smith was fantastic and gave us a chance to win. It's just too bad we couldn't get two points", Coyotes' coach, Dave Tippett, said.
"Vrby (Vrbata) is obviously one of our go-to goal scorers and found a hole in the middle there and capitalized. There's some good things in our game".
This was Coyotes' third loss in four games as Phoenix now stands with a 20-17-6 record.
Henrik Lundqvist made 18 saves during the game as the Rangers were dominating the possession throughout, but could not find a way past Smith, determined to stay focused as long as he could.
The first two periods remained scoreless as Rangers ran riot but failed to score, while Coyotes kept themselves in the game.
Ruslan Fedotenko broke the deadlock early in the third period to give New York a commanding lead, while Rangers failed to improve on their stronghold, making it seem like Phoenix was making a comeback.
Radim Vrbata stepped up to score the equaliser at 11:37 for the Coyotes and sent the game down to an exciting finale.
Both teams failed to score in the resulting overtime period and a shootout was inevitably on the cards.
Vrbata cameback to beat Lundqvist once again in the shootout to give Coyotes a 1-0 lead, and Marion Gaborik had to score if the Rangers wished to emerge victorious, which is exactly what he did as the MSG crowd raised the roof with their cheers.
With the score at 1-1, Derek Stepan stepped up and put the puck past Mike Smith to give Rangers the lead as it all boiled down to whether Lundqvist could keep out Coyotes’ captain, Shane Doan.
Doan fired off a great shot but Lundqvist just about managed to deflect the puck with his stick handle, giving Rangers another close win.
Phoenix Coyotes will meet Detroit Red Wings on Thursday, while New York Rangers look to make it six wins straight against the hot Ottawa Senators.
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