Recap: All Quit in New York, Rangers Lose 2–1 to Calgary

Following their 3-1 loss to Edmonton on Sunday, the Rangers took on the other team from Alberta, the Calgary Flames. Coming off a back-to-back of their own, the Flames came into this one following a brutal loss to the Leafs the night prior but looked to be the more rested team and it wasn’t particularly close. In a season full of abysmal showings, this one was right up there as the Rangers failed to play with any heart.

1st Period: 

The Rangers got off to a great start with Mika Zibanejad once again turning heads with his efforts on the forecheck. On the following shift, back-to-back turnovers from both sides turned into an odd-man rush opportunity for the Rangers. Artemi Panarin had Vincent Trocheck on a 2-on-1 and wisely opted for the shot which beat Dan Vladar clean to give the Rangers a 1-0 just a minute and a half in. That comes as Panarin’s 30th goal of the season and extends his current point streak to double digits. 

The Flames followed that up with a pair of really strong point blank chances that required solid saves from Igor Shesetekrin. From that point on, it was all Calgary through the first half of the period. Nearing the midway point of the opening period, the Rangers defenders got caught down low with a pair of Flames players which allowed for Jonathan Huberdeau to be open in front. Morgan Frost chipped it out to Huberdeau that led to another fantastic save from Shesterkin. 

Out-shooting the Rangers 8-3, Calgary continued to push and would tie the game with nine and a half to go. A shot wide of the net from Joel Hanley at the point bounced off the boards and back into danger for Mackenzie Weegar to throw back at Shesterkin. That resulted in pretty much every Ranger on the ice standing around looking for the puck. Nazem Kadri would be the first to find it as he sent the rebound through traffic and to the back of the net to tie the game, 1-1. 

With just over two minutes to go in the first, the Rangers took the first penalty of the night as Matt Rempe was called for elbowing Jake Bean on a hit by the Rangers bench. It only took Calgary 17 seconds to find the back of the as Weegar and Kadri set up a pretty passing play for Matthew Coronato to let a clean shot go from high in the slot to beat Shesterkin, giving the Flames a 2-1 lead. 

As the period was coming to an end, J.T. Miller took a one-handed slash from Kevin Bahl somewhere in the midsection. At first, it looked like it might have been the wrist or hand but after seeing the replay, it looked like it might have been the last place any guy wants to get whacked with a stick in. Nevertheless, it went uncalled, Miller was in serious pain and Mika Zibanejad was quite unhappy with the officials as they had a lengthy discussion after the horn sounded. 

Turned out to be a pretty bad period for the Rangers despite the strong start. The Flames took control of things and ran with it after falling behind early and the Rangers didn’t do much right defensively to counteract that. Shots were 14-5 (yikes) in favor of the Flames, the Rangers turned the puck over 15 times and were behind in attempts, hits, high danger chances and expected goals for. 

2nd Period:

Like Joe said on the broadcast, the Rangers needed everything to be better going into the second but they would not get off to a good start here in the second. Just a minute and a half in, Braden Schneider sent the puck over the glass for a delay of game penalty, giving Calgary their second power play of the game. Naturally, this allowed for the Rangers to have two scoring chances, one of which involved Zibanejad almost scoring on a one handed attempt on a breakaway. 

The Rangers would successfully kill off the man advantage and soon after returning to even strength, J.T. Miller tried to create a spark by initiating a spirited scrum in front of Calgary’s net. He and Rasmus Andersson would receive coincidental roughing penalties which brought play to 4-on-4. 

The extra ice wouldn’t do much for the Rangers but upon returning to full strength, had a couple of chances off the rush. One thing that’s been noticeable as of late, J.T. Miller having chances with the one timer. What’s also been noticeable about that is for as good as he is overall, he needs to really spend time working on those one timers because it does not seem like he has much control of them. 

Meanwhile, nearing the midway mark of the entire game, the Rangers had six shots on goals. They would again head to the penalty kill as Alexis Lafrenière tripped Connor Zary in the offensive zone to put themselves at yet another disadvantage. After a successful kill, the Rangers finally got a power play of their own with seven minutes to go as Martin Pospisil was called for interference in a collision with Urho Vaakanainen. 

The power play unit has undoubtedly struggled as of late but this might have been their worst attempt in a long time. The Rangers could not even get into Calgary’s zone let alone set anything up and as they returned to even strength, they gave up a breakaway as Pospisil returned to the ice. Just a truly abysmal period as the Rangers continued to turn the puck over, make poor decisions and get outworked by a team that got into town at 3 a.m. after playing Toronto the night prior. 

Shots were 24-7 after two periods of hockey, six of which, from defensemen. That’s really the only statline you need to know about this one. If it wasn’t for Shesterkin, this game would be so much worse. Speaking of which, he might have been the only exciting part of the period as he nonchalantly challenged Rasmus Andersson to a fight during a TV-timeout and continued to jaw with him as the teams skated off for the second intermission. 

3rd Period:

Laviolette plugged in the line blender for the third period as J.T. Miller started on a line with Trocheck and Will Cuylle, leaving Panarin with Zibanejad and Kreider. A line that has famously, never worked. The third line consisted of Lafrenière, Carrick and Brodzinski while the remaining three forwards seemingly were riding the pine pony. Fans cheered two and a half minutes in as the Rangers registered a shot on goal, signifying just how low the bar was at this point. 

The Rangers proceeded to ice the puck three times and just showed a general disinterest in playing anything that remotely resembled effective hockey. The Rangers finally had a somewhat threatening scoring chance about eight minutes into the period as Panarin fed Kreider for a one timer that went straight into the chest of Vladar.

As the period went on, the Rangers slowly but surely began to generate some more offense but were running out of time in the process. Igor Shesterkin continued to do everything and then some to keep them alive, coming up with impeccable saves and firing cross ice passes in attempts to help his team do something.

With two and a half to go, the Rangers pulled Shesterkin for the extra attacker which is frankly, a movie we've all seen way too much at this point. The Flames ended up with a 2-on-0 on the empty net but ended up entering the zone offsides which negated the goal that Blake Coleman scored. Don't know if an empty net goal has ever been challenged before.

It didn't matter. The Rangers only had 11.5 seconds to try and tie the game up and could barely win a face-off. Everything you need to know about this Rangers team can be summed up in this clip below where they dumped the puck with less than five minutes to go and let the Flames literally stand there holding the puck as valuable seconds ticked off the clock.

The Rangers not only lost the game, but lost the playoff spot they were barely holding onto to begin with. They're back at it with the Toronto Maple Leafs on Thursday.