The New York Rangers, in their first full game without Adam Fox, rallied to tie and score in overtime to defeat the Dallas Stars 3-2 at MSG. New York received goals from Will Cuylle with 2:13 remaining and Vladislav Gavrikov 1:09 into overtime to earn the victory in a contest where they outplayed Dallas. The Blueshirts head on the road to face the Senators on Thursday.
Game recap:
Rangers lineup vs. Stars:
Panarin-Zibanejad-Lafreniere
Miller-Trocheck-Brodzinski
Cuylle-Laba-Berard
Sheary-Carrick-Raddysh
Gavrikov-Schneider
Soucy-Borgen
Robertson-Morrow
Shesterkin
Martin
Scratches: Edström (lower-body injury), Vaakanainen, Othmann
IR: Quick (lower-body injury)
LTIR: Fox (upper-body injury), Rempe (upper-body injury)
A few thoughts:
1) Special teams: New York stoned the best power play in the league twice, not allowing a goal on the man advantage. On the flip side, the Rangers went 0-for-5 while up a man, including a four-minute power play where the team generated substantial pressure but were unable to beat Casey DeSmith.
With Fox out, New York opted to go with five forwards, as coach Mike Sullivan and David Quinn felt that none of the d-men, including Scott Morrow, was a better option as the point man. Instead, Artemi Panarin played the point. The team did have moments where the moved the puck well and created opportunities, but the risk of a forward being the last line of defense is still scary as heck.
2) Game-tying tally:
Cuylle’s goal was the first time the Rangers tied a game with less than three minutes remaining since March 2, 2024. This has been one of the narratives the past season and a half, the team’s inability to rally late. For at least one day, it’s no longer a story.
Peter Baugh in the Athletic wrote this: “The Rangers had 28 comeback wins in 2023-24, tied for third all time in a single season. They regressed to 16 in 2024-25 and did not have any game-tying goals with their goalie pulled at the end of a game. Tuesday was the fourth time the Rangers had a comeback win this season.”
When they won the President’s Trophy is 2023-24, New York was the Kardiac Kids, seemingly rallying late all the time, as they were never out of a contest. That magic died last season. We will see if they can use this victory as a springboard.
3) The Rangers’ third line of Cuylle, Noah Laba and Brett Berard was buzzing. Laba picked up a point on Carson Soucy’s goal just after a penalty against ended. He was all over the place, especially in the first period. Berard, who brings energy and physical play every shift, showed offensive skill through the game as well. Cuylle, as noted above, tallied the game-tying marker. The Rangers ended the game leading 11-4 in five-on-five shot attempts with that line on the ice, according to Natural Stat Trick
4) Gavrikov:
Sighed as a free agent this offseason, Gavrikov has been as advertised defensively, while also showing more offensive skill than expected. His game-winning goal – his fifth tally of the season- capped off a brilliant game by the defenseman, who stepped up his game without his partner Fox. Gavrikov played 22:29 — that likely would’ve been more had New York not had 10 minutes of power-play time — and the Rangers had more than 73 percent of the expected goal share with him on the ice at five-on-five, according to Natural Stat Trick. Ridiculous numbers. In addition, Braden Schneider, paired with Gavrikov in place of Fox, had his best game in weeks, raising his game as well.
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