Blue Line Station
Fansided

New York Rangers thoroughly outplayed in a 7-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins

By Steve Paulus

NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 02: Members of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate after a goal in the second period against Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on January 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY - JANUARY 02: Members of the Pittsburgh Penguins celebrate after a goal in the second period against Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on January 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /
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NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 02: Pavel Buchnevich #89 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against Matt Murray #30 and Juuso Riikola #50 of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden on January 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NY – JANUARY 02: Pavel Buchnevich #89 of the New York Rangers skates with the puck against Matt Murray #30 and Juuso Riikola #50 of the Pittsburgh Penguins at Madison Square Garden on January 2, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Jared Silber/NHLI via Getty Images) /

Notes on a bad loss

  • This was the third time the Rangers have given up as many as seven goals.  The most  they’ve given up is eight by Carolina.
  • The five goal differential was the worst suffered by New York this season.
  • The second line (Hayes/Namestnikov/Zuccarello) had a very bad night, a combined minus six.  Hayes in particular was not very good.
  • The lack of ability to finish by the Rangers is a real problem.  Murray was good in the first period, but if the Blueshirts had been able to score at least one goal it might have been a different game. Then again, maybe not.
  • The Rangers outshot the Penguins for the game 30-25.
  • Statistically, the Rangers outhit the Penguins, won more faceoffs and had more takeaways.
  • The Rangers were able to keep Phil Kessel off the scoresheet, but Crosby and Malkin both had a goal and an assist.
  • Zach Aston-Reese is the second Staten Island born player to make it to the NHL after Nick Fotiu.  He was joined this season by Joe Gambardella who made his debut with Edmonton.  Kevin Labanc of the Sharks grew up on Staten Island, but was born in Brooklyn.  Labanc had a three assist game against the Rangers last January.
  • How does a New York native like Aston-Reese who is an undrafted free agent end up a Pittsburgh Penguin?  It’s not like he was an unknown. He led the NCAA in scoring as a senior at Northeastern University and was a Hobey Baker finalist.  There’s no word if the Rangers were even interested in signing him.  This was the same spring that the Rangers signed two undrafted free agents, Neal Pionk and Dawson Leedahl.  Curious.
  • Pavel Buchnevich had his most active game in two weeks.  He scored a goal and led the team with four shots.  He was also burned, badly, by Kris Letang in the second period.  Buchnevich was stickhandling near the Ranger blueline when Letang stole the puck and broke in and scored.  Buchnevich was very aggressive after that, throwing the body and he got in a few shoving matches with Penguin players.  My theory is he knew he was headed for Quinn’s bench so he knew he had to play hard.  Which he did and he scored.
  • Marc Staal played in his 800th NHL game. He’s the tenth to hit that mark as a Ranger.
  • There was a strange play stoppage in the first period when the horn blew. Fredrik Claesson had possession and was skating out of the zone. Not know why play was stopped, there was no explanation and the faceoff was in the Ranger zone.  If the stoppage was a mistake, why wouldn’t they have the draw in the neutral zone?
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