All Things ‘Rozsy’

 

Patrick Hoffman (HV)

 

Going into the overtime period in yesterday’s Game three between the New York Rangers and Buffalo Sabres, hockey pundits could choose from an array of players to score the winning goal such as Rangers Jaromir Jagr, Brendan Shanahan, Michael Nylander or Sabres’ Daniel Briere, Chris Drury and Maxim Afinogenov. However, the guy who scored the goal turned out to be the true warrior of the series thus far, Rangers’ defenseman Michal Rozsival.

 

It was fitting that that the man who logged the most minutes out of any player on either side in Game two (24:58) and then in Game three (38:16) would score the game winner with just under four minutes to play in the second OT, to cut the Sabres’ series lead to 2-1.

 

“That’s what a champion looks like,” Rangers head coach Tom Renney said after the crucial Game three victory. “Most guys that get to lift the Stanley Cup are beat up and Rozsival is a good example of that.”

 

Rozsival’s shot had eyes as the puck found its way through an array of players standing in front of Sabres’ goaltender Ryan Miller, sending the Rangers’ fans into a frenzy.

 

“This is the biggest goal of my career," Rozsival said. "Can't get any better, scoring (the) game-winning goal in overtime. It feels real good right now. Everybody was tired. It's a big lift for us.”

 

The goal was a result of just the way the Rangers had been playing all afternoon and that had a lot to do with just throwing pucks on the net, which the team managed to do 44 times throughout the game.

“The ice wasn't very good, and I was just focusing and watching the puck the whole way because it was bouncing a little bit,” Rozsival said. “I was just focusing on hitting the puck and I was lucky enough that I had a lucky shot and I just tried to put it on the net.”

Shanahan, on the other hand, thought that Rozsival’s shot was perfect and knew that the puck was headed into the net.
“There was traffic in front and the one place he could put the puck, he put it there,” Shanahan explained. “We were getting to our feet (on the bench) before the puck even went into the net because we could see it was traveling there.”

For Rozsival, the goal proved to be a true testament to the way he has played not only this series, but throughout the playoffs as he has played extremely well in his own zone, has blocked a ton of shots and has also chipped in on offense as he has put up five points (3 Goals, 2 Assists) in seven playoff games.

“He's a great player,” Jagr said after the OT thriller. “Not only offensively, but making plays in our zone. He has a lot of patience and he can beat guys one-on-one.”

Photo: Michal Rozsival © NHL