Recap: Rangers Blow 3-1 Third Period Lead, Fall 4-3 to Ottawa in Overtime

First game after the trade deadline and a critically important matchup in determining how the Eastern Conference Wild Card positions are going to shape up entering the final quarter of the regular season. Once again, the Rangers had a golden opportunity to hit the reset button and once again, they dissapointed in an unbelievably painful fashion. After leading for roughly 57 minutes of the game, the Rangers allowed Ottawa to tie the game and a careless mistake in overtime cost them the extra point. Here's how we got here:

1st Period: 

The Rangers wouldn’t let up a goal in the first two minutes but they would end up penalized in that span as Sam Carrick was called for elbowing Travis Hamonic. It would be an eventful two minutes, especially towards the end of it as a great defensive play from K’Andre Miller sparked an odd-man rush from him and Will Cuylle before Ottawa went the other way with it where Igor Shesterkin was able to freeze play and help kill off the man advantage. 

About six minutes in, a sloppy shift from the Rangers allowed a 3-on-1 for Ottawa that resulted in Igor Shesterkin shutting down Claude Giroux with a point blank chance. This led to a couple of extended shifts in the Rangers end of the ice where Shesterkin was certainly kept busy without a ton of help from his defense.

Closer to the midway point of the period, some good pressure from the Trocheck line set up for a nice drive to the net for the newest Ranger, Carson Soucy. The officials had blown the whistle, a bit early as Linus Ullmark made the initial save but as that occurred, the puck was rolling through Ullmark, eventually crossing the goal line. The officials took a second look at the play and declared it to be a good goal to give the Rangers a 1-0. Welcome to New York Carson Soucy! 

With just under five minutes to go, the Rangers got their first power play of the afternoon as Ridly Greig was called for slashing Vincent Trocheck. Despite Kreider rejoining the lineup, Trocheck remained on the top unit which didn’t generate much through the first 64 seconds of the man advantage. Too much passing around which continued to be the theme as the second unit, with Kreider in his usual net front position, took to the ice for the remainder of the power play. 

The Rangers would spend the final two minutes of the opening period shorthanded as Soucy caught Brady Tkachuk up high with the glove after having a Grade-A scoring chance all alone in front of Shesterkin. The Senators came extremely close to converting but some incredible goaltending from Shesterkin mixed with some fortunate puck luck, helped the Rangers take their one goal lead into the first intermission. 

Bit of a chaotic finish to what wasn’t really that great of a period for the Rangers but they came out of it with the lead which is all that matters. Shots after twenty were 12-9 in Ottawa’s favor. They also led the game in attempts, hits, face-offs, expected goals for and had the significant advantage in the high danger count 7-1. Plenty of room for the Rangers to improve to say the least. 

2nd Period:

After much of the same throughout the first four minutes, a great breakout from Urho Vaakanainen wrapped the puck around and out to Will Cuylle in the neutral zone. Cuylle was able to chip it ahead to J.T. MIller who went cross ice to Mika Zibanejad for him to fire a wrist shot up high on Ullmark, extending the Rangers lead 2-0. It ended up deflecting off the stick of Jake Sanderson however, no hesitation from Zibanejad to shoot, which is exactly what you want to see.

Exactly what you don’t want to see is what occurred just eleven seconds later. A defensive zone face-off loss allowed for Brady Tkachuk to deflect a shot from Nick Jensen at the point, bringing the Senators within one, 2-1. 

Nearing the midway point of the outing, Tim Stutzle entered the Rangers zone with great speed and ended up falling to the ice as Braden Schneider got the stick up in his mid section. Hard to tell if it was really Schneider’s doing or Stutzle just skating too fast and losing an edge but either way, the Rangers were back to the penalty kill. 

Nonetheless, the Rangers came out of it unharmed as the score remained in their favor 2-1. Not long after, the Rangers headed back to the power play as Artem Zub was called for taking down Vincent Trocheck. A much needed break for the Rangers who were being out-shot 8-2 up to that point in the second period. A much better showing from the top power play unit which spent the majority of the two minutes out there but still couldn’t convert. 

Meanwhile in the final five minutes of the period, the Rangers had some more great scoring chances with Igor Shesterkin helping them out in more ways than one. Not only was he making tremendous poke checks and keeping the puck out of the net, he was dishing beautiful cross ice breakout passes to generate odd-man rushes for the Trocheck line. The nonstop action continued as both goalies were making outstanding saves to keep things close and exciting. 

The period would come to an end with yet another too-many men on the ice penalty to the New York Rangers. I really don’t know what else to say about this, it is truly absurd how consistent of an issue this has been for this team all season long. Shots after two were 22-18 in favor of Ottawa who were leading the charge in most stat categories save for the score. It was turning into a goaltender battle and after forty minutes, Igor had the edge. 

3rd Period:

Tasked with killing off another penalty, Shesterkin was tested early as Jake Sanderson danced his way down fifth avenue and came in all alone to be shut down with a pad save. That set the tone for yet another successful kill for the Rangers which was much needed to start the third. Through the first five minutes of the period, it continued to be Igor Shesterkin keeping the Rangers in it as Ottawa was out-shooting them 4-0. 

With just under thirteen minutes to go, a great outlet pass from Jonny Brodzinski sent Panarin on his way. In all alone, Panarin snipped a quick shot glove side past Ullmark to extend the Rangers lead 3-1. A much needed goal for the Rangers and Panarin alike. 

About a minute later, the Rangers ran into some more penalty trouble as Jusso Pärssinen got his stick tangled up in the midsection of the newest Senator, Dylan Cozens. J.T. Miller had a great shorthanded chance but Ottawa would finally convert on the power play as the teams were close to returning to even strength. Shesterkin did his best to fight off a rebound but Ridly Greig would get the second attempt through him to bring his team back within one, 3-2. 

From that point on, it felt like playoff hockey and at least one side was certainly treating it as one. The Rangers sat back when they shouldn’t have and were reverting to old habits, struggling to make the simple plays in the defensive zone and it was only a matter of time before it cost them. With under three minutes to go, Schneider failed to clear the puck, the puck danced around the crease and the Senators outworked the Rangers for it. Mike Amadio found the loose puck and tucked it in past Igor, tying the game 3-3. 

The Rangers followed that up with a more desperate shift and produced some offense in the final minute but it wouldn’t be enough, this one would be decided in overtime. 

Overtime:

The short-lived overtime can be summed up in this one tweet from Joe:

Every single chance this team gets to turn things around they shoot themselves in the foot and it's so incredibly frustrating. One of the only critiques you could really make about this team's trade deadline was not improving at the 3C position and this result was the exact reason Drury didn't buy more than he needed to. From top to bottom, this team just can't be trusted to show up when it matters most.

Still, they got a point and it's not over until it's over. They have now an even more important game tomorrow against Columbus who currently hold the second wildcard position with the same amount of points as the Rangers.