Recap: Rangers Fall Flat in Pivotal Game, Lose to Pittsburgh 3-2

It can't be stressed enough how important this back-to-back stretch heading into the break is for this Rangers team. In their final home game before the two weak break, they hosted a Pittsburgh Penguins team without Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin. There was no excuse for the Rangers to lose this game but wouldn't you know it, they found a way to do so.

1st Period: 

The Rangers top line did a good job of attempting to set the tone early in this one but unfortunately, it took some time for those efforts to follow suit. The Rangers were only credited with two giveaways in the first ten minutes but they must’ve turned the puck over at least six times in that span. Extremely sloppy in their own end as well as in transition against a team missing two of their top players was not an encouraging start. 

Nearing the midway point of the period, another simple yet effective dump and chase zone entry set up Vincent Trocheck for a wide open lane to take the puck to the net. Alexis Lafrenière did a great job of getting a stick on the defender to deflect the intended pass, creating the turnover to the stick of Trocheck. With no hesitation, Trocheck went for the shot and beat Nedeljkovic with the shot to make it a 1-0 game. 

About a minute or so later, the Rangers failed to complete a successful line change which resulted in them taking the first penalty of the night. For those keeping score, that’s their 9th bench minor of the season which is second most in the league, yikes. A solid kill with some help from Igor Shesterkin helped them maintain the one goal lead they would end up taking into that first intermission. A bit of a scary moment with just over a minute to go as Igor was slow to get up, nursing his blocker hand after a lengthy battle to freeze the puck. 

Joe Micheletti mentioned on the broadcast that Igor was a bit shaken up from a shot that he took on the blocker side the day prior which is a bit alarming but thankfully, Igor appeared to be okay and has a two week break coming up after tonight. 

Aside from that, it was a bit of a going through the motions type of period. It felt similar to the first period against Boston earlier in the week in the sense that not much happened and there wasn’t a ton of tenacity but alas, the Rangers came out of it on top. Shots were 10-7 in favor of the Penguins who also led in scoring chances by a similar count. Not a bad period from the Rangers but lots they needed to clean up. 

2nd Period:

The Rangers continued to be careless with the puck to start the period and that caused problems soon enough. Erik Karlsson picked off a cross ice pass intended for Jimmy Vesey and sent Blake Lizotte in to beat Shesterkin and tie the game up 1-0. 

Just over a minute later, a solid effort from the second line ended with Trocheck finding Adam Fox at the point whose patience with the puck paid off as he picked his corner and ripped a shot past Nedeljkovic to regain the lead, 2-1. 

The Rangers almost gave it right back up as Michael Bunting chipped the puck ahead to a pinching Ryan Graves in the slot that beat Shesterkin with a move but couldn’t finish on what seemed like a sure fire goal. Zac Jones with a good defensive effort to help keep the puck out of the net.

Credit where it's due, the Penguins had their foot heavily on the gas despite missing both Sidney Crosby and Evgeni Malkin tonight. Approaching the midway point of the night, they had nearly 40 shot attempts and continued to put a ton of pressure on the Rangers, spending the majority of play in their end of the ice. It was only a matter of time for them to tie it as Rickard Rakell went hard to the net and finished on a simple move to tie it back up, 2-2. 

As the Rangers dismal performance continued, it appeared that the Mika Zibanejad on the wing experiment was coming to an end. Will Cuylle was moved up to the top line in his place as Zibanejad was now centering Kreider and Brodzinski. Of course none of that matters when you aren’t generating any offense whatsoever. It’s also worth noting that Lafrenière didn’t see much ice time, if any at all after a lazy backcheck on what became the Rakell goal. With about nine minutes to go in the second, the Rangers found themselves shorthanded again as Cuylle was sent off for tripping. 

A minute into the advantage, the Rangers penalty killers got caught chasing the play and Philip Tomasino ended up with all the time and space in the world to let a shot go that beat Igor and gave Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. 

It continued to be an abysmal period for the Rangers which built into yet another careless play that sent Pittsburgh back to the power play and Reilly Smith to the penalty box for tripping with two minutes to go. Thankfully, the Rangers met that with a successful penalty kill that included two potential odd man rushes but the score would stay the same heading into the final intermission. In a similar position as they were in on Wednesday Night, the Rangers trailed by one and would require a massive third period turnaround. Shots after two were now 26-18 Pittsburgh. 

3rd Period:

At first glance, it seemed like Laviolette hit the reset button and put the lines back to how they were at the start. However, soon enough it appeared that Mika Zibanjead was being double shifted and Matt Rempe was riding the pine pony. They were certainly off to a better start, playing with slightly more noticeable energy but still, couldn't generate any truly effective offense and all of a sudden, nine minutes had come and gone before the first stoppage of play in the third.

We went from having no play stoppages to several within a couple of minutes. With six minutes to go in regulation, the Penguins were finally given a penalty which gave the Rangers their first power play attempt of the night. With P.O. Joseph going off for interference, the top power play unit took the ice but couldn't make a difference.

With time quickly running out, the Rangers continued to push but couldn't find the back of the net. After the Penguins iced the puck with less than three minutes to go, it looked as though they were about to pull Shesterkin when Michael Bunting took a holding penalty to give the Rangers power play one more chance. The Rangers pulled Shesterkin to make it a 6-on-4, had all the chances in the world yet Pittsburgh wanted it more.

Despite not registering a single shot on goal in the third, the Penguins played a tight shutdown game, blocked some big shots and I can't say it enough, wanted it more. That says it all right there which is not a good look for the Rangers whatsoever. They're right back at it tomorrow for one final outing before the break for 4-Nations and if they can't rebound against another division rival seriously competing with them in the standings, that could be straw that breaks the camels back regarding this season.