Defenseman Ryan Lindgren’s heads-up play in the final seconds of regulation against the Sabres on Sunday night won the game for the Rangers.
With Chris Kreider and Barclay Goodrow battling three Sabres for the puck in the corner, Lindgren recognized that it was acceptable to abandon his post at the top of the zone and inch closer to Buffalo’s net to put a shot on net if he got the chance. And in a matter of milliseconds, Lindgren had the puck on his stick and was in perfect position to bat home the first game-winning goal of his NHL career.
“Lindy’s a smart hockey player and he knew the time was running out,” head coach Gerard Gallant said after the win. “So, why not go to the net?”
Lindgren makes these astute plays often, this one just happened to garner a heap of attention because it came in a big moment. Plus, it marked the fourth goal Lindgren has scored since he made his NHL debut with the Rangers in January 2019.
Take the defensive play he and Adam Fox made in the Rangers’ zone that led to Kaapo Kakko’s 3-2 score in the second period Sunday. An errant pass from Artemi Panarin sprung Sabres winger Kyle Okposo through the neutral zone, but Lindgren and Fox converged.
Lindgren then bodied Okposo out of the play, and when a trailing Rasmus Asplund tried to gain control of the puck, Fox’s poke check sent the Rangers the other way. Ryan Strome found Kakko, who made a move to the net and beat Sabres goalie Aaron Dell.
“I don’t think you’ll find a guy in that room who doesn’t smile when you bring up his name,” Jacob Trouba said of Lindgren. “That’s the kind of guy he is, the kind of personality he has. He brings so much more to the team. It seems his face is a little less bloody this year, which is good, but he seems to always be sticking his nose in something, somewhere. So, it’s good to see him get rewarded and I think everybody’s very excited for him.”
With the win over the Sabres, the Rangers extended their home win streak to five games — their longest such streak since Dec. 22, 2019 to Jan. 13, 2020. The Rangers have also recorded at least one point for a ninth time in their past 11 games, stringing together a 7-2-2 record over that span.
After recording three assists Sunday night, Artemi Panarin now has 50 career three-point games, which is tied with the Blackhawks’ Patrick Kane for the third-most in the NHL since 2015-16. It was also the 11th time since Panarin joined the Rangers in July 2019 that he recorded three or more assists in a single game, trailing only the Oilers’ Connor McDavid for the most among all players over that span.