3 Rangers takeaways after road trip ends with dud against Oilers
It was not a pretty way to end their longest road trip of the season. Taunted by the fans at Rogers Place, the New York Rangers skated off the ice following a 6-2 loss to the hometown Edmonton Oilers on Saturday night.
The Rangers (12-6-1) ended the trip a disappointing 2-2-0, with losses to the Calgary Flames and Oilers, after winning the first two games. In fact, these past two losses are a definite downturn after a hopeful stretch of play when the Rangers won three straight and seemed to be getting their feet back underneath them.
Instead, they allowed five goals or more for the fifth time already this season. Keep in mind, that’s with Igor Shesterkin and Jonathan Quick — who was in goal Saturday — largely performing brilliantly this season.
Shots on goal isn’t always the perfect stat to determine how well or poorly an NHL team played. But the Rangers allowed 89 shots on goal the past two games, somehow out-scored only by an aggregate of 9-4. Shesterkin (46 saves Thursday) and Quick (34 saves Saturday) simply didn’t receive the requisite effort in front of them.
The Rangers have given up 40+ shots four times this season, managing to win one of those games (2-1 against the Ottawa Senators on Nov. 1, thank you Igor).
So, it’s back to the drawing board for the Rangers, who face a busy week — hosting the St. Louis Blues with new coach Jim Montgomery on Monday, then visiting the Carolina Hurricanes and Philadelphia Flyers to wrap the Thanksgiving Day holiday, and wrapping up the month with a Madison Square Garden matinee Saturday against the Montreal Canadiens.
Related: Jonathan Quick continues Rangers’ 2-decade dominance with backup goalies
3 takeaways from Rangers 6-2 loss to Connor McDavid and Oilers
Here are three takeaways from the game Saturday.
1. Can’t get started again
For the second straight game — and loss — the Rangers didn’t appear at all ready to compete in the first period Saturday. They were out-shot 21-9 and out-scored 2-0. Jonathan Quick stopped the first 18 shots he faced before surrendering two later in the period, the backbreaker a wide-open short-handed goal by Darnell Nurse.
The underlying numbers don’t appear so bad. The Oilers had an 11-9 advantage in scoring chances and high-danger chances were even (4-4) in the opening 20 minutes, per Natural Stat Trick. But did you watch the period? The Rangers didn’t show a lot of interest, were sloppy, looked slow and were badly outplayed.
That’s not dissimilar to the Calgary game when the Flames badly out-shot (20-5) and out-attempted (34-11) the Rangers in the first period. Thanks to Shesterkin, the deficit was only 1-0 then after 20 minutes, though grew to 2-0 in the second period in an eventual 3-2 loss.
Things got better for the Rangers as each game progressed — in Calgary, they even found a way to tie the game with two quick-strike goals — but neither time did they find a way to climb out the hole they helped create for themselves in the first period.
“Not good enough the last two games, first periods haven’t been great,” Rangers forward Jimmy Vesey told the New York Post after the game Saturday. “Twenty shots, around, the last two first periods and overall I don’t think our first periods have been great all year. It’s not a recipe for success. They’re getting 20 shots, I’m not saying it’s 20 quality shots, but it kind of puts us into a scramble and we’re playing behind the eight ball.”
2. Powerless
Typically, when things go poorly for the Rangers, they rely heavily on great goaltending and their power play to save them, often magically turning sure-fire losses into wins. Well, the goalie play was there the past two games. The power play? Not so much.
The Rangers were 0-for-3 on the power play against the Oilers. Worse, they allowed that shortie by Nurse in the first period. Then in the second, their power play last just 20 seconds before Vincent Trocheck had to haul a man down on an Oilers short-handed break. Yeesh.
New York hasn’t scored a power-play goal in five games. The Rangers dropped to 10th in the League on the PP (22.5 percent). Mika Zibanejad hasn’t scored a power-play goal all season, neither has Adam Fox. Trocheck has one. What’s worse recently is that the Rangers have had only seven power plays in the past five games, meaning that they’re not working hard enough to draw penalties in the first place.
3. Not worth the hassle
Victor Mancini documented his “crazy” travel schedule and issues to get from Hartford to Edmonton after he was recalled by the Rangers on Friday to replace the injured Zac Jones. In the end, it wasn’t worth it for the rookie defenseman nor the team.
An admittedly weary Mancini was on ice for Edmonton’s first goal in the opening period and two more in the third period. That’s a minus-3 right there. His xGF was 36.28 percent, per Natural Stat Trick. Only defense partner Braden Schneider was worse on the Rangers (35.66). Together they were on for five of Edmonton’s 10 high-danger chances.
Perhaps veteran Chad Ruhwedel, rested and already in Alberta with the team, was the better choice instead of Mancini? Classic second guess. But worth mentioning.
Jones has an upper-body injury and is day to day.
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