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Recap: Four Goal Third Period Dooms Rangers

Nope nope nope.

The Rangers returned home to Madison Square Garden to take on the Edmonton Oilers Saturday afternoon. The Rangers had the unenviable task of shutting down Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl. They sort of did, but they could not stop the explosive offensive of... Evan Bouchard and Dylan Holloway.

Alexis Lafrenière put the Rangers up 1-0 early in the first. Skating down the right side, Adam Fox found the former first overall pick parked in the crease, and the young winger made no mistake redirecting the pass into the net. It was his first goal in 11 games. There was no additional scoring in the first period, or at least none that counted–a Rangers powerplay goal was overturned when video replay revealed Artemi Panarin was offsides.

Throughout the second, Edmonton firmly controlled play, but failed to solve Shesterkin, who made some big saves. After the teams traded a few fruitless powerplays, Sammy Blais set up Braden Schneider, who deposited the puck in the corner of the net. There was yet another video review, this time due to a coach’s challenge for goalie interference. After a long, long look, it was ruled that Ryan Carpenter did in fact make contact that prevented Campbell from making a save.

Undeterred, the Rangers scored two goals in 33 seconds. The first was scored by Chris Kreider, who banked a rebound off Campbell and into the net. Julien Gauthier scored the second after a scrum in front of the net. He found the puck at his feet, settled it, and ripped it high. Gauthier’s emergence has been a real boon for the Rangers fourth line this year.

The Oilers got onto the board five minutes into the third, and then they just kept getting on the board. On an expiring powerplay, Evan Bouchard unleashed a nasty wrister that grazed the crossbar as it flew past Shesterkin’s glove. He tallied his second goal of the game (and season for that matter) just a few minutes later. The play started with a giveaway by Libor Hajek and ended with a big shot from center ice that got through many bodies before finding the twine. The Oilers scored their third of the period after the Rangers bungled a line change, causing Trouba to turn the puck over on a zone exit pass. Former first round pick Dylan Holloway recovered the puck and fire a quick shot on the rush. It was also his first goal of the season.

With less than five minutes to go, Lafrenière took a careless roughing penalty. You’re playing with fire any time you put the Oilers on the powerplay, and this time the Rangers got burned, this time by Leon Draisaitl. At least this one was scored by an actual goal scorer?

Given the way the Rangers played, this isn’t a surprising result. Edmonton soundly outplayed them. Shesterkin kept the Rangers in the game for the first 45 minutes or so, but once he became mortal again, it felt like only a matter of time before the Oilers caught up.

The Rangers next action will be Monday night against the division-leading New Jersey Devils. Hopefully it’ll go better.

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