The NHL wanted drama, and they got it. As the sun was setting and the already-frigid temperature was plummeting in Flushing, the Rangers and Sabres took the…
The NHL wanted drama, and they got it.
As the sun was setting and the already-frigid temperature was plummeting in Flushing, the Rangers and Sabres took the 10th annual Winter Classic to overtime. And finally, J. T. Miller won it for Rangers during a 4-on-3 man-advantage in the extra frame, taking a 3-2 victory on Monday afternoon outdoors at Citi Field.
The Rangers (21-13-5) were playing in their second Winter Classic, and their fourth outdoor game, having gone 3-0 in the previous endeavors, all backstopped by Henrik Lundqvist. The Sabres (10-20-9) had played in the first Winter Classic, 10 years ago in the snow in Buffalo.
When this one started, the outside temperature was 20.5 degrees with a stiff wind. As the shadows grew longer, it got dangerously cold and the corridors of the stadium looked like refugee camps with people trying to save their extremities.
By the time the third period started, the whole ice was covered in shade and the Rangers led, 2-1. But the Sabres didn’t take long to tie it, a long seeing-eye wrist shot from Buffalo defenseman Rasmus Ristolainen just 27 seconds in knotting the game at two.
The rest of the third was a tight match, sending the game to overtime.
It had started with a bit of a surprise, as the Rangers got Jesper Fast back from a quadriceps injury that was supposed to keep him out at least another week or two. Fast suffered the injury on Dec. 21, and missed only three games. He came in and replaced Vinni Lettieri, who had made his NHL debut and scored a goal in the team’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Red Wings on Friday in Detroit, the final tune-up before this extravaganza.
Fast made an immediate contribution, too, threading a slick pass through traffic to Paul Carey, who buried one from the slot to the give the Rangers a 1-0 lead just 4:09 into the first. The Blueshirts kept the pressure on and extended the lead to 2-0 when Michael Grabner got his team-leading 18th of the season on a great flip-pass from Kevin Hayes at 8:20.
But the penalties started coming en masse, and the Sabres were able to take advantage just 56 seconds into the second period, when Sam Reinhart was able to jam one past Lundqvist for a power-play goal, making it 2-1.
That one-goal advantage is how they took into the third, with the temperatures dropping and the pressure rising.
