Edmonton 3 Rangers 2 (shootout): Pinching defensemen have become a vital part of the Rangers’ offense and Dan Girardi showed that again Saturday. With New York stymied offensively and losing 1-0 midway in the third, Girardi came in and put the puck on net. The bounce was odd, but the result was good as the Rangers tied the game at 1.
Unfortunately for New York, Ryan Hollweg took a stupid boarding penalty and his five-minute major penalty combined with Martin Staraka’s holding penalty resulted in a 5-on-3 advantage for the Oilers. Edmonton converted and their second power-play goal of the game looked like it would hold up. But, Sean Avery drew a big penalty late in the third and with the goaltender pulled, the Rangers converted with six second left in the game, thanks to Chris Drury and after overtime, things headed to a shootout.
Avery was blanked, but Sam Gagner scored for Edmonton. The next two skaters missed which put the pressure on Jagr to keep things going for New York. His wrist shot was blocked and Edmonton got the win while the Rangers earned their only point of the road trip.