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Comebacks were such a big part of last season: Remember the Resilient Rangers, clawing back from deficits, never dead?
Now these 2024-25 Blueshirts, disappointing for a long stretch, are showing that same kind of grit. They beat the Bruins, 3-2, on Wednesday night with their second consecutive third-period comeback at Madison Square Garden and their confidence is surging.
We’ll see what it means going forward — they’ve still got to establish their playoff credentials — but they are making plays that show you what heights might be possible. Two plays stood out Wednesday: J.T. Miller’s underrated highlight, which offered a glimpse of what he brings beyond scoring, and Chris Kreider’s game-winning shortie.
On the Rangers’ first goal, which gave them a 1-0 lead in the second period, Miller’s physical style might have made the play, even if he won’t see any credit on the back of one of his future hockey cards.
Miller started the sequence that led to the goal, hitting Boston’s Brandon Carlo on the forecheck, back behind the Bruins’ goal. Just before Miller connected, Carlo got rid of the puck and it went to Mika Zibanejad, who fed Artemi Panarin for a one-timer for a goal.
Zibanejad was credited with the only assist on the play, but Miller got some postgame plaudits: “I don’t think that goal happens if he doesn’t do that,” Zibanejad said.
Zibanejad went on to describe Miller’s play thusly: “He’s a good mix, a mixture of the skill and the playmaking ability and, obviously, his physicality on the forecheck and the way he plays, let’s say, very north.”
To Rangers coach Peter Laviolette, Miller is “a bit of a bull out there and I think that’s a good piece to have on the line, somebody that goes to the net, doesn’t get moved, somebody first on the forecheck and can finish a hit, but yet still has the plays and the hockey sense.”
In three games since the Rangers traded for Miller, he has two goals and two assists. The way he skates around seems like he’s made for the rugged style of playoff hockey — it all bears watching.
Kreider’s shorthanded goal was his sixth game-winning goal of the season and 16th overall. Kreider has 12 shorthanded goals since 2021-22, the most in the NHL over that span. He converted a pass from Zibanejad with 8:06 remaining when the Rangers created a chance on the penalty kill.
Did Zibanejad, who took the puck up the ice, know Kreider was coming? “You can hear him,” the center said.
Because he was yelling?
“No, the way he skates,” Zibanejad added.
“Chris was literally shot out of a cannon there from the defensive zone,” Laviolette said, trying to capture Kreider’s skating speed in words.
“It’s pretty amazing the way that they work together,” the coach added. “It was a great pass by Mika, but I thought the pickup by Chris, to have it not flush on the stick, to pick that up and still have the poise and control on it, on a really tough angle, to put it in the back of the net. That’s obviously the biggest goal of the night.”
It gave the Rangers another comeback win at a time when everyone is so precious. Last season, the Blueshirts came back so often that they weren’t in their current precarious position in terms of the playoff picture.
They know now that they need a good final two games – against Pittsburgh and Columbus – before the 4 Nations Face-Off break to use as a springboard to a potential run. Maybe consecutive comebacks can be that kind of fuel.
“It’s been our identity for a bit,” Adam Fox said of the team’s resiliency. “We’ve been trying to find that a little more now and we’re fighting for every point. I think we have the mentality, goal down, two goals, we’re able to come back.”
“There’s more confidence in the group right now that we can win, no matter the situation,” Zibanejad said. “Obviously, we don’t want to come back every game in the third. But it’s definitely a feeling in the locker room that we’ve done it before and we know we can do it.”
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