New York. They hit the poles four times, miss free kicks and net clean sheets in multi-minute bouts….
It was as if the hockey gods had decreed that the New York Rangers would suffer their worst loss of the season against Philadelphia, but with less than a minute left in overtime, Chris Kreider scored the game’s lone goal at the end.
– If we replay this match a hundred times, I think we will win with bigger numbers 99 times, Mika Zibanijad told Sportbladet.
Full-time 0-0 tied hockey games aren’t much to write home about, but at Madison Square Garden last night, there was nothing less than a mystery that those numbers popped up on the scoreboards after an effective 60 minutes.
Because Rangers dominated so perfectly and hard on the chances – but couldn’t get the disc. This is partly due to the great play of Flyers goalkeeper Carter Hart, but the home owners also hit the post and the crossbar on four occasions – managing to miss free throws and misses within several minutes of attack.
“Bispunca”
Such times always end with the opponents winning with a random goal…
– It’s not an idea you’ve had for a long time, but sure. Mika Zibanijad says when we meet him next, when we’re in their area for five or six minutes in the second period and then we go for the expulsion, you know there’s going to be a mess right away if they score.
– But I think it’s strong to keep going. We didn’t get discouraged, we didn’t lose our hearts and we didn’t feel like “Oh, now that’s our fault.” We have just continued the same way.
Chris Kreider, the champion of the Rangers
And at the last moment the reward came. After four minutes of overtime, it was Mika who got the disc in the middle and passed it to Radar Activist partner Chris Kreider – and finally, quite freely, was able to outpace Hart.
– I was totally exhausted, I’ve gone back and forth on six occasions during extra time, but I still think I’ll score if the ball goes around the circle. Then I saw that one of the fastest guys in the world came riding on the other side, so it was just a matter of a pass, Mika smiled.
– Great of course. If we replay this match a hundred times, I think we’ll win 99 times more,