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Rangers vs Blues: Rough Night in St. Louis Ends New York’s Winning Streak

Following two big wins at Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers were defeated 5-2 this evening by defending Stanley Cup Champion, St. Louis Blues. The Rangers opened the scoring tonight with an early goal by Filip Chytil, but the Blues completely took over the game and scored three unanswered goals. Henrik Lundqvist started the game in net tonight after a brief absence and made 24 saves throughout the night.

1st Period

Filip Chytil (11) - Ryan Lindgren (8) & Artemi Panarin (28) - 1:34 1st Period

The Rangers started off pretty quickly against the defending Stanley Cup Champions and Filip Chytil gave them an early lead in the game. Chytil was able to carry the puck into the zone by himself after an outlet from Ryan Lindgren and just tossed a shot towards Jordan Binnington. The shot wasn’t all that threatening from the off-angle but Binnington whiffed on the catch and Chytil put the Rangers up 1-0.

Robert Bortuzzo (1) - Ivan Barbashev (12) & Alex Pietrangelo (24) - 9:38 1st Period

Unfortunately for New York, the quick opening goal appeared to light a fire under the St. Louis Blues, and they turned a big penalty kill into a goal at the other end of the ice. Just as Robert Bortuzzo’s penalty expired, an ill-timed pinch sent Bortuzzo on a breakaway against Henrik Lunqvist. It appeared as if Bortuzzo actually whiffed on his shot attempt but the puck slipped under Lundqvist to tie up the game.

Vince Dunn (7) - Zach Sanford (8) - 18:41 1st Period

With less than two minutes remaining in the opening frame, the Rangers threw away all the hard work they did in the opening half and found themselves down by a goal. Vince Dunn was able to slip in from the blue line undetected and Zach Sanford put a perfect pass right on his tape. Dunn was able to ellude the traffic in front of the net with his shot and beat Lundqvist over the pad to give the Blues a 2-1 lead.

2nd Period

David Perron (20) PPG - Brayden Schenn (20) & Alex Pietrangelo (25) - 1:26 2nd Period

St. Louis was able to build on their strong ending to the first period, and quickly doubled up their lead just 1:26 into the second period. The Blues were able to work the puck around extremely well on their power play, and a cross-ice feed by Brayden Schenn created the entire goal. David Perron one-timed the excellent pass from Schenn and wired a slap shot over the shoulder of Henrik Lundqvist.

Brett Howden (6) - Filip Chytil (5) - 8:49 2nd Period

After squandering their early lead in the game, the Rangers finally jumped back into the game with a goal from the Kid Line. Filip Chytil created the entire goal with his work down below the goal line, and was able to draw two defenders to him. As a result, that left Brett Howden all alone in front of the net, and Chytil hit him with a crisp centering pass for the easy tap in.

Zach Sanford (4) - Ivan Barbashev (13) & Jacob de la Rose (7) - 10:34 2nd Period

Another defensive miscue led to an odd-man chance against the for the Rangers, and the experienced St. Louis Blues didn’t mess up their opportunity. Ivan Barbashev and Zach Sanford traded passes on a back-and-forth play in front of the net, and Sanford finished off the play with a hard one-timer off to the right of Henrik Lundqvist.

Jaden Schwartz (15) - Brayden Schenn (21) & Oskar Sundqvist (9) - 14:50 2nd Period

The wheels began to fall off of the bus at the end of the second period, and the Blues jumped out to a commanding 5-2 lead heading into the intermission. Jaden Schwartz was able to beat Mika Zibanejad to the open ice, and Brayden Schenn served up an absolute dime as he entered the zone. Schwartz was able to redirect the puck past Lundqvist on the short-side, and things began to look pretty grim for the Rangers to start the third period.

3rd Period

No scoring.

The Rangers started this game off with some strong pressure during the opening few minutes. However, a quick goal against to tie the game was all it took for St. Louis to jump back into the game, and they never really looked back from that point on. Following tonight’s quick trip to St. Louis, the Rangers will head back home for a home-and-home meeting with the New York Islanders on Monday and Thursday.

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