Recap: Rangers Play Poorly but Manage 5-3 Comeback Win in Pittsburgh

Not even 24 hours after the atrocity that was the 8-2 loss in Buffalo, the Rangers were back at it for a rematch with the Pittsburgh Penguins. Another basement dwelling team that in their last meeting, beat the Rangers without two of their best (hall of fame bound) players. Needless to say, the Rangers needed a bounce back win, for probably the millionth time this season. They would be tasked to do it without one of their own franchise leaders as Chris Kreider became a late healthy scratch with an upper-body injury. It would be as far from pretty as you could possibly be, but the Rangers did in fact come out of it with a big pair of points.

1st Period: 

The first shift of the game was not a great start as Sidney Crosby nearly batted in a bouncing puck in the slot to add another game to the poor start category but thankfully, the Rangers kept it out and managed to get past it. From that moment on, it was nonstop action as it took nearly six minutes for the first stoppage of play to occur. Despite the lack of whistles, there wasn’t much going on as either team only had one shot on goal to show for through the first seven minutes of play. 

The one bright spot was that Igor Shesterkin seemed to be playing much better than what we saw from him in that poor start yesterday. Of course it was only a matter of time before the Rangers gave up the first goal as they continued to play without urgency or any real signs of effort. After a lengthy shift in the Rangers end of the ice, Evgeni Malkin won the battle for netfront real estate with Urho Vaakanainen and created a beautiful redirect off a pass/shot from Cody Glass. While Malkin was Vaakanainen’s man, the other four Rangers on the ice were essentially standing around watching with Vincent Trocheck visibly struggling to do literally anything. 

What was the only thing missing from this underwhelming period? That’s right, a Matt Rempe penalty. Now to be fair, this is a textbook scenario of the officials making a call based on the outcome and not the actual hit. Rempe delivered a clean check onto Matt Grzelcyk at an awkward angle that unfortunately, resulted with Grzleyck’s head making the initial contact into the glass. Initially ruled a 5-minute major (for reviewing purposes) the call ended up being for interference which still didn’t make sense given the fact that the puck was right there. 

Despite being put at a disadvantage, the Rangers had one of their best scoring chances on the penalty kill as Reilly Smith ended up on a breakaway. Joel Blomqvist read the play well and made the save with the pad after Smith cut to his backhand as the Rangers went on to kill off the man advantage. Rempe would end up making up for his penalty as he drew the first Penguins penalty of the afternoon as Kris Letang tripped him up on the forecheck with just over two minutes to go. 

After a minute and a half of the top power play unit fumbling their way through the advantage, a good zone entry from K’Andre Miller moved the puck over to Will Cuylle who ripped a wrist shot under the glove of Blomqvist for his 15th of the season to tie the game up at one. A huge goal for the Rangers to pick up before heading into the first intermission. 

Had it not been for Cuylle’s goal, it would’ve been another disappointing period for the Rangers who were outshot 12-5 by the Penguins. An overall sloppy period where the Penguins saw the majority of the shot attempts and scoring chances. The Rangers had the advantage in hits and special teams but the lack of tenacity was really the most noticeable (and alarming) takeaway. 

2nd Period:

It was back to uninspired hockey to start the second as practically all of the first five minutes of the period were spent in the Rangers end of the ice. For two minutes straight, the Rangers fourth line, which is frankly a complete mismatch of players, could not clear the zone and finally ended with Vaakanainen being sent to the penalty box for holding. 

The Rangers were again successful in fighting off the man advantage but nearing the midway point of the second period, shots were 14-0 in favor of Pittsburgh. FOURTEEN, nothing. It took the Rangers eleven minutes to even register a shot attempt. I cannot stress this enough, this season is a lost cause, put up the for sale sign and start building for next year. Meanwhile, with seven and a half to go in the period, Will Cuylle was sent to the box for interference on Rickard Rakell. 

After going 3-for-3 on the penalty kill, the Rangers finally registered a shot on goal as Braden Schneider threw one on net to soon be followed by a slightly more serious attempt from Alexis Lafrenière, both of which were seemingly handled with ease by Blomqvist. 

Miraculously, the Rangers found the back of the net again with three minutes to go in the period. P.O. Joseph misplayed a bit of a strange bounce at the blue line which created a fortunate break for J.T. Miller. As he should after his team went almost an entire period with a shot on goal, Miller went straight to the net with a shoot first mentality and wouldn’t you know, it went in, 2-1 Rangers in a game they had no business being ahead in. 

After forty minutes, the Rangers were up 2-1 despite being outshot 31-8. The first time in nine games they headed into the third period with a lead which is yet another massive alarm bell ringing in the background of this unfathomable season.

3rd Period:

It was an eventful first minute of play in the final period of regulation as Will Cuylle and Sidney Crosby got into a bit of a shoving match on the way to the benches. This led to Noel Accari going over to challenge Cuylle which basically led to a 4-on-4 for the remainder of the shift. Ryan Shea held the puck at the blue line and let a shot go that Lafrenière attempted to get in front off but ended up sailing right to the back of the net. 2-2 hockey game. 

If you want to epitomize this Rangers season in one singular play it’s likely this one. Ryan Shea, who had one career goal going into this game, let a harmless shot go from the point that hit K’Andre Miller in the midsection, bounced off the ice and through the legs of Shesterkin. 3-2 Pittsburgh. 

Less than a minute later, Jimmy Vesey, who was now on a line with Kaliyev and Trocheck, entered the zone with some purpose and stopped to let a quick shot go that ended up beating Blomqvist to tie the game up yet again. The goal would come as Jimmy Vesey’s 100th of his career. 

As if this game wasn’t enough of a disaster, J.T. Miller appeared to have hurt his wrist on a play along the half wall. Whether this is a new injury or something he picked up during 4-Nations remains to be seen but either way, not great news for one of the few players on this roster that actively appears to be trying his hardest on a nightly basis. Some quick spray from the trainer on the bench proved to be enough to get him back out there for his next shift but still something worth keeping an eye on. 

The Vesey goal seemed to give the Rangers some life as they started playing slightly better hockey. With eight and a half to go, Adam Fox entered the Penguins zone and maneuvered a rolling puck that came from Reilly Smith through a defender. Once he had a lane, Fox let a floater of a shot go that gave Blomqvist some trouble to regain the Rangers lead, 4-3.

Things seemed to settle down a bit from there as time started to run low. With just over a minute and a half to go, the Penguins pulled Blomqvist for the extra attacker and Cuylle nearly put an end to it as he hit the post on a shot from the far blue line that bounced off a Penguins player on its way there. So Rangers, it hurts. Naturally, the Penguins came even closer to tying the game up on a scramble in front of Shesterkin as play went the other way. Will Borgen absolutely saved what otherwise would have been a sure fire goal on the wrap around attempt from Kevin Hayes.

The Penguins called a timeout and still had close to a minute of time left but in the dying seconds of play, J.T. Miller was able to help clear the zone to send the puck into the open net for his second of the night. The Rangers really didn't have any business winning this game but they found a way and come out of it with a much needed (depending how you look at it) pair of points. I'm unsure how much this game actually changes anything given how poorly both games this weekend were played but at least for now, their playoff hopes live another day.

The Rangers are back at it on Tuesday as they'll head to Long Island for a meeting with their Islander rivals that could put them within reach of a wildcard position.