Rangers blow 3-1 lead, lose 7-5 to Kraken
The New York Rangers showed all the signs of a team building positive momentum before a second-period collapse allowed the Seattle Kraken to rally and defeat them 7-5 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday afternoon.
It’s the most goals allowed in a game by the Rangers this season. And it’s also their first regulation loss to the Kraken since Seattle joined the NHL for the 2021-22 season (6-1-1).
The Rangers raced to a 3-1 lead early in the second period, but allowed the Kraken to score five straight goals bridging the second and third periods. A late Rangers rally fell short and the Kraken iced it with an empty-net goal.
It was a brutal loss for the Rangers after an uplifting 4-2 win against the Pittsburgh Penguins on Friday following the trade of captain Jacob Trouba earlier in the day. They are 2-7-0 in their past nine games.
Jonathan Quick started on short notice for the Rangers and allowed six goals on 15 shots in the final two periods. Igor Shesterkin missed the game due to the birth of his child, and Quick finished with 15 saves.
“If you go back and look at it, the chances, all of them were the goals,” Rangers coach Peter Lviolette said postgame. “At those points in the game, we needed to defend better than what we did. We had the pieces in place, and it just it was a little bit too loose. That looseness cost us.”
K’Andre Miller had a goal and assist for the Rangers, and Artemi Panarin and Adam Fox each contributed two assists. Reilly Smith, Filip Chytil, Vincent Trocheck and Alexis Lafreniere also scored for New York.
Oliver Bjorkstrand had two goals and two assists to lead the Kraken, who also received a three-point game (one goal, two assists) from Eeli Tolvanen. Philipp Grubauer made 32 saves.
Related: Rangers GM Chris Drury ready to ‘let dust settle’ after Jacob Trouba trade
Seattle Kraken 7 – New York Rangers 5
The Rangers came out flying Sunday, starting the game with a flurry of chances and four shots on goal in the opening minutes. It didn’t take long for the sustained pressure to pay off, when Smith scored his fifth goal at 3:38. The play started with Miller’s shot that squeaked through the legs of Grubauer, and Smith was on the other side to cash it in. Smith, who scored the game-winner Friday, has goals in consecutive games.
New York dominated the first half of the period, playing with speed and pace that was hard for Seattle to match. Both teams earned a chance on the power play, first the Rangers, then the Kraken several minutes later, but neither was able to convert. However, Seattle did begin to pick their game up as the period progressed. After 20 minutes of play, New York had the 1-0 lead and a 12-6 advantage in shots.
The second period was a tale of two stories for the Rangers, when the teams combined for six goals.
First, a questionable penalty assessed to Ryan Lindgren gave Seattle their second power play of the game. This time around, they cashed in, after a Mika Zibanejad broken stick led to a nice passing play that ended in Bjorkstrand’s first goal of the game, to even the score 1-1 just 1:46 into the middle frame.
However, the Rangers came back with a great response after the goal, and answered with two of their own. After weaving through numerous Seattle players to break out of the defensive zone, Chytil fired a bullet of a shot past Grubauer to restore the lead at 2:50, just 1:04 after the Seattle goal. Kaapo Kakko and Will Cuylle registered assists on Chytil’s fifth goal of the season..
Shortly after, the Rangers went to the power play for their second opportunity of the game. Fox took a shot from the point which took a big bounce off the boards and found Trocheck in the slot with a wide-open net. Trocheck made no mistake and scored his fourth goal in the past five games at 4:47 to make it 3-1.
With all of the momentum, things looked great for the Rangers, until they weren’t. After some big-time saves by Grubauer, including a breakaway stop on Smith, Seattle stormed back into the game with three goals in a span of 5:18, a total collapse for New York.
First, Brandon Tanev got behind Lindgren in the slot and scored off a slick feed from Mitchell Stephens at 14:06 to cut New York’s lead in half, 3-2. Just 1:28 later at 15:34, Tolvanen caught a pass in the high slot and blasted a one-timer past Quick to tie the game, stunning the crowd at MSG.
But the Kraken weren’t done yet. Just before the period ended, Bjorkstrand scored his second goal of the game by deflecting a Brandon Montour shot, giving Seattle a 4-3 lead at 19:24. What started as a dominating period with the Rangers looking for the dagger completely flipped to them facing a one-goal deficit heading into the third.
Rather than coming out in the third swinging, another instance of poor coverage gave the Kraken enough room to score yet again, when Vince Dunn hammered a shot from the point past Quick just 1:00 into the period. This extended the Kraken lead to 5-3.
The Rangers had some great looks, but struggled to find the back of the net. Grubauer made a huge save on Smith once again, and then Zibanejad missed a yawning cage by just inches. To add salt to the wound, Shane Wright went the other way and redirected a pass from Tolvanen past Quick for a 6-3 Seattle lead at 11:13.
But the Rangers finally showed a response. After a slew of chances, Miller took a sharp angle shot that went off of Grubauer’s head and in, cutting the Kraken lead to 6-4 at 12:29. Just 2:30 later, Lafreniere caught a pass from Trocheck and wired his ninth goal of the season into the net to make 6-5.
Unfortunately for New York, the comeback ended there. In an effort to tie the game, the Rangers pulled Quick for an extra attacker, but gave up an empty-net goal just seconds later, when Yanni Gourde sealed it for the Kraken at 18:14.
There’s not much time to dwell on this disappointing loss. The Rangers are right back at it Monday, when they host the Chicago Blackhawks.
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