J.T. Miller comes up big in Rangers’ overtime victory over Blues
· New York PostST. LOUIS, Mo. — Just call him O.T. Miller.
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The Rangers earned a 2-1 victory over the Blues on Thursday night at Enterprise Center thanks to another clutch performance in overtime from their captain, J.T. Miller. Ripping a shot from between the circles, the 32-year-old recorded his third OT goal, as well as his fourth point in the extra period this season.
“He’s a leader,” goalie Igor Shesterkin told The Post after making 26 saves in the win. “He has a great personality. He played great. He always plays hard. So we just try to follow him, especially in overtime. He’s a huge player for us.”
Miller has carried a lot of the burden from the Rangers’ early struggles. As the 29th captain in franchise history, that’s to be expected.
The fiery forward hasn’t just spoken on the team’s deficiencies. He has accepted as much of the responsibility as he possibly can. Not only to deflect from his teammates but because he genuinely believes it is his to shoulder, having not risen to the individual expectations he has for himself.
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With 21 points (10 goals, 11 assists) in 34 games, Miller has definitely not produced as much as the Rangers need him to, especially at five-on-five.
That being said, his portfolio after regulation has been key for the Rangers.
In addition to his three overtime winners, Miller setup Will Cuylle’s game-winning goal in the Rangers’ overtime victory in Seattle. He also registered the shootout winner in Columbus.
“It’s good for the confidence,” Miller said. “Last couple weeks, I feel like my game’s there. I don’t think it’s kind of back to the same as the beginning of the year. It’s like not getting as much as I’d like, I think, on the scoresheet. But I got to believe that if you just play like that in [more] games than not over the course of the season, good things will happen. Just try to be confident.”
Head coach Mike Sullivan inserted rookies Gabe Perreault and Brennan Othmann into the Rangers bottom six in hopes of jump-starting the lineup offensively.
Limited to just one regulation goal or zero for the fourth time in their past five games, the Rangers didn’t exactly surge. They did, however, get a greasy power-play goal from Perreault to even the game at one-all in the second period.
Goals — let alone fluky ones — have been in short supply for the Rangers all season. In his fourth game of the season and first since Nov. 15, Perreault helped generate just that for the first goal of his career.
With seconds left on the power play, Cuylle’s centering feed to a crashing Perreault deflected off his skate and past Blues goalie Jordan Binnington to tie it up 1-1.
“I mean, I kind of blacked out,” the 20-year-old said.
The Blues, who were skating in the second game of a back-to-back, fell to 0-8 in their overtime/shootout appearances this season.
On the other hand, the Rangers improved to 6-4 in that department.
Miller has had a direct hand in four of those six wins.
“It was a great shot,” Sullivan said of Miller’s winner. “I think he’s got a heavy shot. It was a great screen by [Vladislav Gavrikov]. Vladi goes to the net. It was a good play all around. Just the possession game. You got to be selective when you shoot. Overtime, for me, is all about possession. It’s out-changing teams and being selective, and when the opportunity presents itself to try to score, I thought those guys, they were patient when they needed to be. … I had a conversation with [Miller] this morning and tried to encourage him to shoot the puck a little bit more. I think sometimes he passes up the opportunity to shoot it, and I think he has a heavy shot.
“He’s one of the few guys we have on our team that I think can beat goaltenders clean with a clear-sighted shot. That’s how heavy I think his shot is. That was a great example of it.”