Recap: Sloppy Showing Leads to Loss in Ottawa

The Rangers crossed the border to take on the Ottawa Senators for their only game of the week before yet another back-to-back this coming weekend.  The Rangers would look to continue to build on their win streak as they were coming off their third win in a row against the Sharks on Sunday. The Senators, looked to build off their 2-0 win over Seattle the day before as Anton Forsberg would go into this one hoping to keep his shutout streak alive.

1st Period:

Igor Shesterkin had the first big save of the night as Brady Tkachuk fed Josh Norris for a one timer from up close in the slot that Igor was able to eat up in the chest pads. Aside from that, it was quite the slow start through the first quarter of the opening period. The puck was bouncing around pretty frequently as neither team was really able to get much of anything going throughout the early parts of the night.

The Rangers first big chance came about seven minutes in as that second line had a couple of chances throwing the puck on net as it bounced around low in the slot. Towards the end of that shift, Artemiy Panarin got tied up with a couple Ottawa players and ended up getting called for tripping which sent Ottawa to the power play.

Ottawa wouldn’t capitalize on the man advantage but on one of the shifts that followed, the Rangers had trouble clearing the zone which resulted in a couple shots from the point by Ottawa. Artem Zub had a couple looks and on his final one, Brady Tkachuk was able to deflect the shot in past Shesterkin to give the Senators a 1-0 lead.

Ottawa would head back to the power play with about six and a half to go in the first as Jacob Trouba was sent off for holding after battling with Josh Norris in front of the Rangers net. The Rangers were again successful in killing off the man advantage with Jimmy Vesey getting a quality chance on a partial breakaway.

Nearing the end of the first period, K’Andre Miller made a play at the blue line to keep the puck in Ottawa’s zone. Unfortunately, as the puck sailed back into the zone, Barclay Goodrow ended up taking the puck straight to the face which left him rushing off the ice for medical attention. Goodrow would not end up returning to tonight’s game.

With just about a minute and a half to go in the first, Claude Giroux picked up a loose puck that was sent wide of the net and snuck it past Shesterkin on a quick wrap-around attempt to extend Ottawa’s lead to 2-0.

The Senators were assigned their first penalty of the night as Dominik Kubalik made contact with Igor Shesterkin with 15 seconds to go in the period. There wouldn’t be much time for the Rangers to get anything going but they would start the second with close to a full power play opportunity. After the first twenty, the Rangers definitely had their work cut out for them trailing 2-0 with shots tied up at 10.

One interesting note from the start of this one, this may have been the worst period the Rangers have had in the face-off circle up to this point in the season as Ottawa won 71% of the draws throughout the first with the Rangers only winning 6 of 21.

2nd Period:

Things would really open up for both teams in the second period as there was no shortage of back and forth high danger scoring chances. The Rangers wasted no time taking full advantage of starting the period off with the power play as it only took them 39 seconds to capitalize. A good forecheck by Vincent Trocheck led to the Rangers getting set up with the puck at the point. Adam Fox sent it over to Artemiy Panarin who let a shot go through traffic to bring the Rangers within one to make it 2-1.

Five minutes in, a Rangers turnover in the neutral zone resulted in Ottawa coming back in the zone with it and of course it was former friend Vladimir Tarasenko sniping a wrist shot on the glove side of Shesterkin to make it a 3-1 game.

I’ll take this as an opportunity to say what I’m sure we’re all thinking: Man I hope the Rangers can bring him back at the trade deadline.

Alexis Lafrenière then had a real good chance to put one away on the doorstep off a pass from Panarin but it was K’Andre Miller who put away the rebound to score just 20 seconds after the Tarasenko goal to make it 3-2.

From that moment on, the chances just seemed to come at a non stop pace. Another Rangers turnover led to a chance for Ottawa and this time it was Drake Batherson capitalizing on a rebound off an initial shot from Tarasenko, 4-2 Senators. Not long after that one, the Rangers came so close to bringing the score back within one as they had a couple rebound chances in front of the net with Anton Forsberg coming up with a big save. He wouldn’t be the only Senator making a big save as Jacob Chychryn batted a floating puck away with his glove that was otherwise destined for the back of the net.

Right after that, Josh Norris went the other way with it on a breakaway but Shesterkin was able to shut him down and keep it a 4-2 game. The Rangers had a couple more chances of their own but Forsberg did a good job of coming up with the necessary saves. With just under two minutes to go, it was Artem Zub again letting a shot go from the point. However, this one would misfire a bit which sent the puck to the side of the net which let to Brady Tkachuk sneaking his second of the night past Shesterkin.

Another late period penalty for the Senators would put the Rangers back on the power play but the score would remain the same at 5-2 heading into the second intermission. The Rangers had the slight edge in shots 26-25 but were continuing to get beat in face-offs and just didn’t seem to be playing as clean of a game as they’re capable of.

Through the first forty minutes of play, Igor Shesterkin was having a bit of a rough night in more ways than one. For starters, the Senators were making contact with him on more than one occasion which in itself is enough to leave you rattled as a goaltender. Between that and with how the night was going for the team in front of him, it seemed like he was trying to do too much, playing the puck when he didn’t need to, accidentally icing it on one of those attempts. Not to mention, no one hates him letting up five goals in a game more than he does.

3rd Period:

The Rangers again started the period with the man advantage, however with much less time remaining on it this time around. It wouldn’t take long for the Rangers to head back to the power play as Artemiy Panarin took a stick up high in the neutral zone. After about thirty seconds of power play time, Vincent Trocheck was tripped up in the slot area which sent Tim Stützle to the box, giving the Rangers a 5-on-3 opportunity.

Zibanejad tried sending the puck back to Adam Fox on the man advantage which ended up bouncing past him giving the Senators a chance for a breakaway. Igor Shesterkin channeled his inner Patrick Roy and skated out to his blue line to shoot the puck back into Ottawa’s zone. That would end up being the most exciting part of the 5-on-3 as the Rangers were held without a shot on goal for its entirety.

Braden Schneider would end up taking a hit up high and partially from behind as Kubalik caught him below the Rangers goal line. Both Alexis Lafrenière and Erik Gustafsson immediately went after Kubalik who already agitated the Blueshirts with a collision involving Shesterkin earlier in the game. Gustafsson would properly drop the gloves with him which resulted in an additional minor penalty for the Rangers to be served by Will Cuylle.

The Rangers would kill off the extra penalty and Braden Schneider would return from the Rangers locker room which certainly came as good news after he was left shaken up from the Kubalik hit. The bad news for the Rangers was that time was quickly running out with them down by three showing no signs of getting anything going again.

With about four and a half minutes to go, the Rangers pulled Shesterkin to try and get something going still down by three goals. Still struggling to maintain puck possession, especially in Ottawa’s zone, the Rangers failed to get anything set up and a minute and a half later, Tarasenko picked up his second of the night on the empty net. That would finalize the score in this one at 6-2 in favor of the Senators. Finally tally on shots on goal would be 36-35 in favor of New York with the Rangers going 1 for 3 on the power play and 3/3 on the penalty kill. After a terrible period in face-offs to start the game, the Rangers actually battle back and won 56% of the draws by the end of the night.

Despite it looking like a close enough game on the stat sheet, the Rangers really didn’t seem to have anything tonight as there were a lot of turnovers and other sloppy plays that resulted in Ottawa running away with this one. This one comes as the Rangers fifth regulation loss of the season as they’ll have plenty of time to regroup before another busy weekend that kicks off with a trip to Washington for a divisional match-up with the red hot Capitals.