EDMONTON — The Rangers’ captain may have been the overtime hero Thursday night, but the team never would’ve gotten there without the supporting cast.
J.T Miller’s goal 2:49 into the extra period secured the Blueshirts a 4-3 win over the Oilers, marking the club’s second win in a row and the second of the four-game road trip that will conclude Saturday night in Seattle.
The Rangers marquee players have largely left much to be desired to start the season, especially offensively.
That’s forced the team to find production elsewhere. This time, it was Braden Schneider and Taylor Raddysh who each scored in the final 20 minutes to knot the game at three-all and ultimately force overtime.
“The third period was great,” Miller said after the game. “I didn’t have my best today. Obviously, changed the lines up a little bit, trying to spark something. We just had so many guys contribute. [Noah Laba] was unbelievable today. You see Rads chip in again, Schneids. We need that throughout the course of the season, you know what I mean? You have that depth scoring, and they played a heck of a game and drove play for us today and made it easy for the next line going out there.
“That was a true team effort. When they had their looks, [Igor Shesterkin] played awesome today. That’s just a big team win, something that we can really build on going forward.”
Head coach Mike Sullivan thought the Rangers looked deflated after another unsuccessful power play toward the end of the second period, which prompted the Rangers head coach to implore his team to reset their mindset during the second intermission.
The Rangers, now 4-for-30 on the power play this season, found their legs in the final frame.
Schneider first cleaned up a loose puck off of Will Cuylle’s drive to the net to register his first goal of the season and cut the Rangers’ deficit to one.
Raddysh, on the other hand, notched his team-leading fifth goal of the season at the 12:04 mark, when the 27-year-old wing whipped the puck past Edmonton goalie Stuart Skinner to even the score at 3-3.
“You got to make sure that you dig in and you don’t become your own worst enemy by allowing your frustration to get the best of you,” Sullivan said. “It was about a reset and going out and digging in. If we get the next goal, we get within striking distance.”
Skating in his second straight game after serving as a healthy scratch eight times already this season, Jonny Brodzinski scored his first goal of the season to put the Rangers on the board first. The veteran forward intercepted a puck at the blue line before burying it on his backhand off a breakaway.
The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Oilers struck back just over a minute later. A Darnell Nurse one-timer from the circle beat Rangers goalie Igor Shesterkin to even it up at 1-1.
Edmonton was in the driver’s seat throughout the second period, outshooting the visitors by a noticeable 14-8. It led to the Oilers taking a two-goal lead into the final 20 minutes.
Just as the Oilers’ power play expired at the 10:24 mark of the middle frame, Matt Savoie scored his first NHL goal on a bouncing rebound that went in off his leg in front of the Rangers net.
Nurse later redirected a shot that Shesterkin appeared to save, but a second look by the officials deemed that the puck crossed the goal line.
“You need guys like that to step up,” Miller said. “It’s just part of the gig, and it’s a long season. I know mine are going to go in at some point. I know that Mika [Zibanejad] will tell you the same thing, or [Artemi Panarin]. They’re going to go in, so we just have to keep playing the right way and try not to let the emotions get the better of us, because it is hard to stay not frustrated.
“When you have guys like Brodzinski stepping up today and scoring the first goal, you just need guys like that. It was a true team effort today, those guys really helped drag us into the fight.”
