A scrappy win was just what the doctor ordered for a Rangers team that had fallen into a bit of a funk.
It was far from dominant and far from perfect, but a 4-1 victory over the Kings on Sunday night at Madison Square Garden got the Blueshirts back in the win column all the same after the club suffered its first two consecutive losses of the season this past week.
The Kings, who had won eight of their last 10 entering Sunday’s contest, were handed just their second road loss of the season.
Jonathan Quick earned the win in his first time facing his former team of 16 years, collecting 24 saves to improve to 8-0-1 on the season.
The Kings are not only one of the hottest teams in the NHL, but they have been one of the best five-on-five clubs this season. Quick was not tested too much, but the 37-year-old netminder came up with the key saves and scrambling stops when the Rangers needed them.
When things got chippy, Quick did not shy away from the fracas with some of his former teammates. He was right in there throwing punches of his own.
The rest of the Rangers in front of him followed suit. Tensions rose quickly before things exploded in the third period. Eleven total penalties were handed out, but the Rangers didn’t get too caught up in the hoopla.
Not even when Phillip Danault scored a power-play goal at the 6:37 mark of the third period to cut the Rangers’ lead 2-1.
Instead, the Rangers answered with a man-advantage tally of their own as Jonny Brodzinski cut to the middle of the ice and blasted a feed from Vincent Trocheck into the top corner of Los Angeles’ net.
Despite their energy building as the game progressed, the Rangers had their heads in this one from start to finish. They had bled odd-man rushes for several games, but they tightened up against the Kings and didn’t have to defend the rush too often.
Trocheck led the Rangers with three primary assists, including a backhanded feed to Will Cuylle for the Rangers rookie’s fifth goal of the season toward the end of the third period for the three-goal lead.
With both teams playing on the second night of back-to-backs, the Rangers and Kings went scoreless in a low-event first period that saw the home team limited to a mere four shots on goal.
The Rangers actually went 12:20 without a shot on goal, but Los Angeles didn’t have much going for it either.
It wasn’t until their second power play that the Rangers finally ended their scoreless streak at 123:52, which dated to the second period of the 6-2 loss in Ottawa.
Working the zone well, Trocheck eventually fed Mika Zibanejad for a lethal one-timer at the 8:27 mark of the middle frame. The Rangers found their legs from there and went on to limit the visitors to just two shots on goal in the second.
The Rangers later doubled their lead, 2-0, when Nick Bonino leapt at the blue line to keep the puck in before dishing to Jimmy Vesey, who went five-hole on Kings goalie Phoenix Copley with his backhand.
As one of the most consistent forwards on both sides of the puck during this rocky Rangers stretch, Vesey now has six goals on the season. He’s scored five of them in the last 12 games.