The Jets treated Tuesday night’s matchup with the Rangers like a litmus test against East Division opponents.
Meanwhile, Rangers couldn’t help but play their sixth game in nine days.
The game accordingly took place on the ice at Madison Square Garden, with Winnipeg defeating the Rangers 4-2 and moving past the Canucks, at least temporarily, ahead of a matchup with Vancouver and the Sabers later Tuesday night. Ranked 1st in the Western Conference.
The Rangers’ loss and the Hurricanes’ win over the Islanders narrowed the gap between the two clubs in the Metropolitan Division to just two points.
And this is: The rest of the month will not be easy for the Blueshirts.
“I think we did a lot of things right in those 40-odd minutes, and they’re going to sacrifice some chances, but they’re a good team as well. They’re going to play hard and their I’ll take credit for it,” said Adam Fox, who assisted on Alexis Lafreniere’s 3-2 score late in the third period and Jets forward Mark Scheifele completed his hat trick with an empty-net goal. “I thought we fought hard. Just for those 10 to 15 minutes. [in the second period] That’s when it bit us. I think a lot of teams are playing a lot of hockey right now, and we know that and we’ve dealt with these injuries all year long. Of course it hurts, but I think you’re still trying to go out and do the right thing. ”
The Jets appeared to have some build-up heading into this game, having been without head coach Rick Bowness on Tuesday due to a minor procedure.
After Winnipeg’s win over the Blue Jackets on Sunday, Bowness classified the Rangers as a “huge test” and “one of, if not the top team in the league.”
After a hellish week of two back-to-back sets, the Rangers looked like they were still recovering from a five-game onslaught in the Eastern Conference.
The competition with the Devils, Hurricanes, Lightning, Penguins and Islanders was tough to beat, especially as the Bruins and Panthers went head-to-head this weekend on Thursday and Saturday, respectively.
The Rangers were completely outplayed in the second period, but the Jets scored three goals on the power play to the home team’s one goal from Alex Wennberg.
Despite having a 16-7 shot advantage in the final frame, the Rangers cut the Jets’ lead to one point when Lafreniere took the puck off his front block with 1:54 left in regulation. I could barely do it.
However, there wasn’t enough time for the Rangers to score the equalizer, as Scheifele netted his 22nd goal of the season into an empty net.
“The second period wasn’t good enough,” Mika Zibanejad said. “I think we took a little bit off our game and obviously they’re doing a good job of being tough on us in the neutral zone. A couple are bouncing all over the place as well. The second period, especially in the stand-up I think we confused the game a little bit.”
The Rangers will be skating without two of their top four defensemen, Jacob Trouba and Ryan Lindgren, for the first time since Lindgren went down in Sunday’s game against the Islanders, which also hurt.
Chad Ruhwedel made his Rangers debut with Zach Jones filling in after Trouba was absent.
However, the depth players that have helped the team through this tough time were not as effective this time around.
So Peter Laviolette disrupted the defensive pair and part of the front line by the third period, something the Rangers head coach hasn’t done much of this season.
“After the second period, I thought we were a little flat. We talked right away to make a change,” Laviolette said. “We replaced some centermen, [new] Please pay attention to the third period. ”
