The New York Rangers blow a game to the Kings in overtime 4-3
The New York Rangers cannot beat the Los Angeles Kings and it goes back to the 2014 Stanley Cup Finals. A Kings goal in the last minute tied the game and 25 seconds into overtime they won it. It was a very ugly loss.
Lightning has struck twice, in both of the games with Los Angeles. The Kings scored goals in the last minute of both games, the first time to win and in this game to tie. In the overtime Mika Zibanejad hit the post on a two-on-one break and Tyler Toffoli came back on their own two-on- one and beat Henrik Lundqvist.
This was a game that the Rangers controlled from the opening faceoff, but their bugaboo, the lack of secondary scoring came back to haunt them. For once there was a goal not scored by the Zibanejad line, but it was scored by a defenseman. Once again, the nine other forwards were skunked.
Henrik Lundqvist didn’t have a great game. Arguably, at the very least he should have had the tying goal. At any rate, he was outplayed by Jonathan Quick.
The game got off to a great start. The Rangers had a lot of jump and dominated possession. At 8:32 the Rangers got on the scoreboard and it was Chris Kreider’s goal on a wonderful pass from Tony DeAngelo and the secondary assist for Mika Zibanejad.
Another 👀 at the Kreider goal off a great set up by Tony D. #NYR pic.twitter.com/xSqTXGZhqj
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) February 5, 2019
The Kings challenged the goal, claiming that Kreider was offside on the entry into the zone 40 seconds before the goal was scored. The challenge was overturned and the Kings had to kill a delay of game penalty.
The Rangers were swarming. It felt like the Kings were barely touching the puck. That was until they scored. It was set up by a breakout pass from Drew Doughty to Carl Hagelin. The ex-Ranger got the puck to Kovalchuk who faked a shot and passed to a wide open Adrian Kempe who put it past Lundqvist. Hagelin and Kovalchuk were covered, but the Ranger forwards, most notably Jesper Fast, let Kempe get loose.
So, did they dominate the first period? The Rangers’ first period Corsi was 68% with 15 shot attempts to seven for Los Angeles. They outshot the Kings 12-8 and but for Jonathan Quick, could have had two or three goals.
They came right out in the second period and kept it up and again, it was Zibanejad line, only 32 seconds into the period,
Marc Staal took a shot from the point that deflected to Zuccarello who then took the shot. The rebound came right out to ZIbanejad who had an open net for his 21st goal. With that goal, he had a hand in ten straight Ranger goals, a team record. He also set a personal record with his 52nd point, one more than his career high. On the first Ranger goal he set a personal best with his 31st assist.
It’s worth noting that the goal came right after Lundqvist had made a great stop on Alex Iafallo who was left wide open in front of the Ranger net. The rest of the period was back and forth hockey and while the Rangers had the better of the play, it was getting sloppier and the Kings actually outshot the Rangers 13-12.
Still, considering the weak offense of the Kings and the fact that they had not come back to win a game that they had trailed going into the third period, it looked like the Rangers would prevail. That’s when Anze Kopitar beat Lundqvist with a nasty backhand shot, five minutes into the period.
Things look even worse when Adam McQuaid shot a clearing attempt into the stands and the Rangers had to kill a penalty, 17 seconds after the Kopitar goal. The Blueshirts survived the penalty and then it was Adam McQuaid who put the Rangers ahead with his first Ranger goal.
MCQUAID!!!
MCQUAID!!!
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) February 5, 2019
First with #NYR pic.twitter.com/ct2s5UMPVs
The goal came at 9:15 and it was unassisted off a giveaway by Carl Hagelin. As an unassisted goal, it ended Zibanejad’s point streak and ten straight goals. It was McQuaid’s first goal as a Ranger and his first in almost a year. With ten minutes left in the game it was up to the Rangers to hang on for the win.
The Rangers actually did a good job, holding the Kings to only one shot by Dion Phaneuf until there was one minute left in the game.
The Kings shot the puck into the Rangers’ zone and Tyler Toffoli used his speed to beat everyone to the puck. He shoveled it to the front of the net and Adrian Kempe was driving to the goal and got the puck past Lundqvist. There was some controversy as Kempe had high-sticked McQuaid in the face and was able to get free of McQuaid as a result. The defenseman complained, but it was ignored.
Tyler Toffoli to Adrian Kempe is just too much good hair to cover 😎#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/3SFC8z6GXT
— LA Kings (@LAKings) February 5, 2019
The overtime sums up this Ranger season. The Kings hemmed the Rangers in their zone until Brady Skjei was able to spring Zibanejad on a two-on-one with Zuccarello. Zibanejad took the shot and it clanged off the right post. Adrian Kempe got to the rebound and passed to the speedy Toffoli who took the shot and beat Lundqvist.
Game. ✌️#GoKingsGo pic.twitter.com/0tAm4QY8F0
— LA Kings (@LAKings) February 5, 2019
It took all of 25 seconds for the Rangers to lose.
Notes on the game
There doesn’t seem to be an answer to the Rangers’ scoring woes. The forwards are working hard and making plays, but they just cannot finish. In his postgame remarks, Quinns said they need to find a way. Steve Valiquette was more honest and blamed a lack of skill. Probably more of the latter.
Boo Nieves had a clean breakaway in the first period and was denied by Jonathan Quick.
The seven defensemen, 11 forward lineup didn’t hurt the Rangers. Tony DeAngelo and Brendan Smith both had solid games.
Adrian Kempe had not scored a goal in 19 games and only had three assists in that time. He had two goals and an assist in this game.
Drew Doughty was held off the scoresheet, but he played a role in two of the goals with great breakout passes.
The Rangers sloppy play was evident by their 15 giveaways (vs. seven for the Kings).
The Kopitar goal is the kind of score that makes David Quinn crazy. Boo Nieves had possession in the Ranger zone and tried to get a pass to Namestnikov. Kopitar intercepted and passed to Kovalchuk who had gotten free of Neal Pionk. Nieves didn’t check Kopitar who broke to the middle, received the pass from Kovalchuk and put home the backhander. Sure, it was an amazing goal from an elite scorer, but the Rangers coughed up the puck.
The Kings were more physical than the Rangers. Doughty leveled Zuccarello with an open ice check and Dion Phaneuf did the same to Filip Chytil along the boards.
Zuccarello accidentally hit referee Ian Walsh with an shoot-in that looked pretty painful.
Zucc accidentally hits the ref with the puck, then sees if he's alright. What a nice guy. #NYR pic.twitter.com/NWABvX5cq0
— MSG Networks (@MSGNetworks) February 5, 2019
The Lottery Look
We will incorporate the Lottery Look into this recap since it was a quiet night in the NHL. Since the Rangers salvaged a point out of this game, they moved up from 9th worst to 11th worst with 52 points, ahead of Arizona and St. Louis. Los Angeles moved a little closer to the team in front of them, but are still the second worst team in the NHL.
The Ducks continue their free fall, losing to Toronto 6-1. They have gone 2-12-4 over their last 18 games. With 51 points, they are below the Rangers in the standings.
The Flyers won their 8th game in a row, beating Vancouver 2-1. With the win, the Flyers moved up to 13th from the bottom and only five points out of a playoff spot.
The Stars beat the Coyote 5-4 so Arizona slipped below the Rangers in the standings as well.
The standings (Worst is first)
Teams GP W-L-OTL PTS ROW
1. Ottawa 52 19-28-5 43 19
2. Los Angeles 52 21-27-4 46 20
3. New Jersey 51 20-24-7 47 19
4. Chicago 53 19-24-10 48 19
5. Detroit 53 21-25-7 49 19
6. Florida 49 21-21-8 50 19
7. Edmonton 52 23-24-5 51 21
8. Anaheim 53 21-23-9 51 18
9. Arizona 52 23-24-5 51 21
10. St. Louis 50 23-22-5 51 23
11. Rangers 52 22-22-8 52 17
13. Colorado 52 22-21-8 52 22
12. Philadelphia 53 24-23-6 54 22
14. Buffalo 51 25-20-6 56 22
15. Carolina 52 25-21-6 56 24
Who to root for
There’s a very busy night on tap in the NHL on Tuesday, many games with lottery implications.
Wild @ Sabres – Buffalo has only four points more than the Rangers so root for them to win.
Blues @ Panthers – Florida and St. Louis are both close to the Rangers in the standings so it’s a pick’em game. They just need to get to overtime.
Kings @ Devils – Two lousy teams in action, same story as the previous game, pick’em. And get to overtime.
Blackhawks @ Oilers – Two more lottery teams going at it. Chicago has been coming on. Pick’em, but hope they go to overtime.
Hurricanes @ Penguins – This is a big game Carolina, trying to get back into the playoff picture. Root for the Hurricanes.
Ducks @ Canadiens – Can Anaheim win a game? Against the Habs? Probably not, but we can hope.
Coyotes @ Predators – Arizona has one point less than the Rangers. Root for them to upset the Preds on the road.
Blue Jackets @ Avalanche – The Rangers need Columbus to lose for their playoff hopes. Colorado has the same 52 points as the Blueshirts. Two good reasons to root for Colorado.
My three stars of the game
- Mika Zibanejad is our number one star, yet again. With a goal and an assist, he keeps adding to his career year. It would have been fitting for him to win the game in overtime, but the hockey gods didn’t agree. How long can he keep this up? The way the Rangers are going, he is their only hope.
- Mats Zuccarello was all over the ice, playing his feisty, physical game. He added another assist and is driving up his trade value with every game. He hasn’t had a bad game since coming back completely recovered from his injury.
- Tony DeAngelo responded to David Quinn’s tough love strategy. His pass to Chris Kreider was the kind of hockey play that makes one think he will be a star. No major mistakes for DeAngelo and he was chirping at the Kings all night.
dark. Next. No guarantees in free agency
The official three stars of the game
- Adrian Kempe
- Tyler Toffoli
- Mika Zibanejad