Rangers' Jimmy Vesey reaps reward of risky 150-foot shot at empty net

It certainly wasn’t the safe play, but in Jimmy Vesey’s mind, it was the smart one.

The Rangers were trying to protect a one-goal lead late in the third period Tuesday night against the Washington Capitals, and the Capitals had pulled their goaltender for the extra skater. Barclay Goodrow won a faceoff in the defensive zone and K’Andre Miller fished the puck off the boards and got it to Vesey in the slot.

He skated to space and had a choice to make: The net was empty, but it was 150 feet away. And the puck was on his backhand. If he tried to shovel a shot toward the net, he might score an empty-net goal — or he might miss and be called for icing.

He decided to go for it.

“Some coaches or analytics people say if you have a shot, take it,’’ Vesey said Wednesday as the Rangers practiced before facing Pittsburgh on Thursday night at the Garden. “I believe in that, because I think, more often than not, it ices the game [if you score]. That being said, I was on my backhand with a couple people in front of me. So it probably wasn’t the best shot selection. But I hadn’t scored in a while, so . . . ’’

So he took the shot. And it went in, sealing a 5-3 win for the Rangers.

It was his first goal since Jan. 27 against Vegas — also an empty-netter — and broke a 17-game drought. And no one was happier with Vesey’s decision to take the shot than coach Gerard Gallant, who said he has no problem risking an icing call if a player believes he has a good look at the empty net.

“I want them to make strong plays,’’ Gallant said. “If they’ve got to ice the puck, you know what? You ice the puck . . . We’ve got good centermen, we’ll work hard on [winning the faceoff]. But I would sooner see a strong play made than a soft play made, where the puck was kept in the zone. If you have to ice the puck with a strong play, I’ve got no issue with that.’’

The goal happened to be the 10th of the season for Vesey, which was meaningful, too, for a guy whose career appeared to be floundering and who had come to training camp last fall on a professional tryout.

“Ten goals is big,’’ he said. “I haven’t had [double-digit goals] in three years, or whatever it was, so it definitely feels good. That being said, I think I should have 15. But I think everyone probably says that every year.’’

Vesey, 29, had 16, 17 and 17 goals in his first three seasons in the NHL after signing with the Rangers in 2016 out of Harvard. But he hadn’t scored more than nine in a season since the Rangers traded him to Buffalo in the summer of 2019.

After a couple of down seasons in Buffalo, Toronto and Vancouver, he went to New Jersey last season on a training camp tryout and reinvented himself there as a fourth-liner/penalty-killer. This season, he has become an invaluable role player with the Rangers.

He played on the top three lines for most of the season, but after the acquisitions of Vladimir Tarasenko and Patrick Kane, he has settled into a fourth-line role, playing with Goodrow and Tyler Motte.

Those three were the Rangers’ best line in Sunday’s game against the Penguins in Pittsburgh and were good again against Washington. And Vesey thinks the trio can play a significant part going forward.

“I think we can be an asset for the team,’’ he said. “[Against Washington], we started the game and we played a lot against [Evgeny] Kuznetsov’s line. I thought we did a really good job defending. And then Turk [Gallant] had us out five-on-six. So it’s a big kind of boost of confidence when the coach puts you out there late in the game.’’

Notes & quotes: Defenseman Ryan Lindgren missed his ninth consecutive game with an upper-body injury. Gallant said Lindgren skated on his own and he remains hopeful that he will play on Saturday or Sunday. Gallant, however, said he had hoped Lindgren would have played before now.

By Colin Stephenson

colin.stephenson@newsday.comColinSNewsday

Colin Stephenson covers the Rangers for Newsday. He has spent more than two decades covering the NHL and just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.