Rangers Vs. Jets Recap: Jets Hand Rangers First Regulation Loss Of The Season

The New York Rangers had plenty of chances tonight against the Winnipeg Jets but couldn't find a way to get more than one past Michael Hutchinson. As a result, the Winnipeg Jets handed the Rangers their first regulation loss of the season by a final score of 4-1. A big reason why the Rangers lost tonight was due to the power play tossing up a goose egg on five separate opportunities.

Dan Boyle, who was a healthy scratch tonight, probably could have helped a bit in that department with Kevin Klein not getting the job done on the man-advantage. Despite a poor outing by the power play units, the Rangers actually played very well at even strength as they outshot the Jets 41-29 throughout 60 minutes. Michael Hutchinson played extremely well tonight and denied the Rangers on several occasions and kept this game in check for the Jets.

The Rangers wound up having a quick start to this game and took their first lead of the game just 6:45 into regulation. Blake Wheeler coughed up the puck at the puck line, which allowed the Rangers to head into the offensive zone with a 3-on-1 odd-man rush. Rick Nash found Derick Brassard trailing the play and Brassard finished it off with a beautiful cross-ice feed over to Zuccarello for the easy lay-up.

A little under a minute after Zuccarello opened the scoring, the Jets were given a power play opportunity and evened up the score at one. Nikolaj Ehlers came away with his first career NHL goal after he unleashed a booming slap shot from the point and beat Henrik Lundqvist over the right shoulder. Winnipeg wound up adding another goal late in the second period after the Rangers failed to clear the zone on their fifth power play opportunity of the game.

Bryan Little collected the puck in the high slot and used Ryan McDonagh as a screen to rip one past Lundqvist on the far side. The Jets carried their 2-1 lead over into the third period, and with about 10 minutes remaining in regulation they added on an insurance marker.

Bryan Little came away with his second goal of the night on yet another slap shot from the point and Henrik Lundqvist was unable to locate the puck through traffic. Mark Stuart eventually iced the game with an empty netter coming at the 17:56 mark of the third period and the Rangers were handed their first regulation loss of the season.

As previously mentioned, the good thing is that the Rangers didn't necessarily play a bad game tonight, it just wasn't their night. They'll have time to correct some of their power play issues before heading into Quebec for a meeting with the Montreal Canadiens on Thursday evening.

Thoughts?