NEW YORK — The New York Rangers found a way to win when everything seemed to be going against them.
They had a third-period goal disallowed in a scoreless game, and they saw Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard stop a late penalty shot by Jesper Fast.
In the end, they still found a way to walk away with two points for the seventh time in nine games (7-1-1) as Kevin Klein scored on a 2-on-1 break at 1:59 of overtime and the Rangers beat Detroit 1-0 on Sunday night.
“Going into the third period, I think the key is patience and trust that you will get to where you want to be,” said Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, who made 22 saves in picking up his fourth shutout.
“You find a way to win the game. When that happens — the overruled (goal), the missed penalty shot and the 2-on-0 big chance, you just have to stick with it.”
The Rangers’ game-winner came seconds after Lundqvist battled to stop a shot by Gustav Nyquist. The puck momentarily got behind him and forward Chris Kreider cleared the puck from the crease and started the breakout with a pass to Hayes, who had the disallowed score wiped out by goaltender interference.
“I thought Hanky made a big save there,” Hayes said. “Kreids just ripped it around. Me and Klein had a long 2-on-1. I just tried to wait the D man out and make him make a decision. He came over to me and left Klein over there.”
Klein didn’t wait long after taking the pass and ripped a shot that found the top right hand corner of the net.
“Haysey put a perfect pass in there for me,” Klein said. “He kind of looked at me, I kind of knew it was coming and I managed to place it well.”
Howard finished with 29 saves as the Red Wings lost their sixth straight road game, their longest skid since March 2012.
“It’s not satisfying because we didn’t get the win,” said Howard, who has not won a game since Dec. 3. “It doesn’t matter, you still want to get the two points, but it was a fun game to be a part of.”
Howard was the reason the Red Wings got to overtime. He made a pad save on a penalty shot by Fast with 5:25 left in regulation and then a sliding pad save on Fast in close with 3:45 to go on what was a 2-on-0.
“Throughout the 11 years, that might have been the best game I’ve ever seen him play,” Detroit defenceman Kyle Quincy said of Howard. “He had such a great game. Hopefully he can keep going. If he does that, we’re in great shape.”
Hayes had an apparent bad-angle goal nullified when the officials ruled that Oscar Lindberg‘s skate came up and hit the goaltender in the mask as he skated through the crease. Howard momentarily lost his balance and the shot came right after that.
The Red Wings’ bench challenged the goal and won out.
They still lost the game.
Howard might have even won the game had not shots by Henrik Zetterberg in the second period and Pavel Datsyuk in the third hit goalposts.
Lundqvist’s best sequence came with 13 minutes left in the second period when he stopped a shot by Andreas Athanasiou on a shot breaking in from the left side and the ensuing rebound attempts in close by Brendan Smith and Teemu Pulkkinen.
Howard’s best save in the middle period was a stop on Kreider right in front of the net with 7:40 to go.
The Rangers’ bench was livid early in the period when Red Wings forward Darren Helm knocked J.T. Miller to the ice with a crunching elbow to the head.
The referee did not make a call and Rangers centre Derick Brassard was called for a holding penalty when he went after Helm in the corner.
NOTES: Rangers captain Ryan McDonagh was sidelined for the fifth time in seven games, the past two with jaw and neck issues. … Rangers F Rick Nash missed his 12th straight game with a left leg bone bruise. … Detroit rookie Dylan Larkin returned to the lineup after sitting out Saturday in Ottawa with an illness. … Rangers forward Marek Hrivik made his NHL debut. … New York’s Alain Vigneault moved into 18th place ahead of Brian Sutter in the NHL’s all-time games coached list, appearing in his 1,029th contest.
