Recap: Rangers Blow a 3-0 Lead, Lose to Dallas 5-4 in Overtime

Back on home ice, the Rangers hosted the Dallas Stars who they just beat about two and a half weeks ago. Despite an explosive stretch in the opening period that helped established a significant lead, the Rangers continued to make critical defensive mistakes and allowed the Stars to find their way back into this game time and time again. To the point where the Rangers were just two and a half minutes away from the win but allowed the game tying goal and eventually, a power play goal in overtime to seal the deal. 

1st Period: 

It was certainly a better start for Dallas than it was the Rangers as they were outshot 3-0 in the first five minutes of the game. Had Jonathan Quick not gotten off to a strong start, things could have gotten away from them early but thanks to some timely saves, the Rangers had a fighting chance. 

The tide would turn for the Rangers about seven minutes in. A fantastic breakout initiated by K’Andre Miller found Ryan Lindgren who sent it up ahead to Artemi Panarin across the neutral zone. After entering Dallas’ end of the ice, Panarin dropped it back to Alexis Lafrenière who absolutely fired a wrist shot over the blocker side of Jake Oettinger to make it a 1-0 game. 

Approaching the midway mark, Roope Hintz pulled off a beautiful spin-a-rama pass that set up a grade-a scoring chance for the Stars, requiring some continued brilliance from Jonathan Quick. The Rangers answered that with a flurry of chances that allowed for Panarin to throw a couple of quick shots on net. As the puck went back to Will Borgen at the point, his shot deflected off of Vincent Trocheck in front to sneak through Oettinger, making it a 2-0 game just three minutes after the first goal. 

Just over a minute and a half later, another beautiful outlet pass from Panarin sent Lafrenière on a clear breakaway. With some rekindled confidence, Lafrenière pulled off a clean forehand-backhand deke to slip the puck right through the legs of Oettinger, 3-0 game. 

With roughly seven minutes to go in the opening period, Dallas stopped the bleeding, Matt Duchene sent a pass towards the top of the crease meant for Jamie Benn but bounced off the stick of Urho Vaakanainen and redirected to the back of the net to make it a 3-1 game. 

About a minute and a half later, Braden Schenider took the first penalty of the game as he wrapped his arm around Logan Stankoven up high to earn two minutes for holding. What started as a strong, confident penalty kill resulted in Dallas’ second goal of the night. A shot from Mavrik Bourque on a strange angle set up an easy rebound of Evgenii Dadonov to bring them within one. From that moment on, it was all Dallas as they were right back in this thing and nearly tied the game on more than one occasion. 

Without question an eventful period with five goals in a span of eleven minutes or so. As the teams headed to the first intermission, shots were 18-8 in favor of Dallas. While the Rangers didn’t get a chance on the power play through the opening twenty, they continued to give up goals against while shorthanded and gave up far too many scoring chances with seven of the total 15 being high danger chances. Lots of positives to start but lots to clean up as well. 

2nd Period:

The Rangers caught a break just over a minute into the second as Mika Zibanejad was tripped up in the slot by former friend Nils Lundkvist sending them to their first power play of the evening. They didn’t pose much of a threat on the advantage as Dallas did a good job of killing off the penalty. As the team’s returned to even strength, the pace to the game slowed down drastically with a number of play stoppages leading up to the midway point of the outing. 

With not much taking place for the bulk of the middle part of the second, I figured I’d give Sam Carrick his flowers since he had a big hit on Ilya Lybushkin. I had written somewhere in an article right around when the Rangers' struggles seriously started to take off that he was becoming a bit stagnant and potentially becoming a Nick Bonino round two. I have to say I was a bit wrong in that regard. While he certainly hasn’t been perfect, especially when taking dumb penalties, he has been really good and a consistent, energetic force on what has been a solid fourth line with Adam Edström and Jimmy Vesey. 

Dallas had a strong chance to tie the game on an odd man rush with about eight minutes to go that resulted in Stankoven ripping a shot off the post. They wouldn’t let up as they spent an extended amount of time in the Rangers zone soon after as Will Borgen would end up losing his stick while defending their push. None of the Rangers forwards jumped at the opportunity to give Borgen their stick and by the time Filip Chytil did, the Stars had tied the game. Jason Robertson had picked up a loose puck and snuck a backhander through all the traffic. 3-3 game. 

Mika Zibanejad had a golden opportunity to regain the lead on a breakaway but missed the net completely on a backhand attempt. That would be one of the last chances the Rangers saw in the second as Dallas again had all the momentum, generating a ton of offensive pressure right until the final seconds of the period. Shots after two were now 28-16 in favor of Dallas. The Rangers needed a big turnaround in the third after giving up a 3-0 lead.

3rd Period:

Some concerning news to start the third as Filip Chytil was not on the Rangers bench. His last shift came with four minutes to go in the second and would become his last for the night as it was reported midway through the third that he suffered an upper-body injury and would not return for the rest of the night. Given Chytil’s injury history, you never want to hear upper-body. Hopefully it isn’t connected to that history and everything is alright with him. 

About a quarter of the way into the period, both sides exchanged serious scoring chances that left you wondering how they could possibly miss the net. The Stars had a deflection in front that went just wide of the net and Brett Berard found a wide open Trocheck in front of Oettinger who couldn’t get enough on the shot to put it home. 

With about eight and a half to go in regulation, Dallas defenseman Thomas Harley sent the puck over the glass to earn a delay of game penalty, sending the Rangers to their second power play of the night. After a much better start from the top unit with the man advantage, the Rangers used a timeout with 45 seconds remaining to rejuvenate that top unit. This immediately paid dividends as they won the face-off and after securing possession, a shot from Zibanejad deflected off Trocheck in front to regain the lead, 4-3. 

With less than three minutes to go, K’Andre Miller made a careless mistake with the puck in the defensive zone and lost a battle with Sam Steel. This led to Steel finding Thomas Hartley who as Sam mentioned previously in the broadcast, was not hesitating from shooting the puck. Sure enough, a quick shot beat Quick up high to tie the game up once again, 4-4. 

For the first time since the home opener back in October, the New York Rangers would be heading to overtime. 

Overtime:

The Rangers lost the ever important face-off and ended up taking a penalty as Artemi Panarin was called for hooking while defending Dallas’ first big scoring chance. The penalty kill started out strong but just like it did in the first period, wore out its welcome as the Stars capitalized on the advantage. A give and go from Harley and Robertson sent the puck towards the net where Jamie Benn was right there to tip the puck in. Rangers get a point out of this one but won’t consider it a moral victory by any means. 

Perhaps this game in a nutshell is why there shouldn’t be any serious expectations for this team until bigger changes come. Even when things start to turn around for them they can’t seem to get out of their own way. They’re back at it at the Garden Thursday Night as they’ll host the New Jersey Devils. The last time the two teams saw each other, the Rangers played the most embarrassing game they’ve played in a long time, possibly ever. If things go south in that rematch, things could get real ugly at the World’s Most Famous.