The New York Rangers suffered one of their most one-sided losses of the season as they were thoroughly beaten by the Calgary Flames 5-1. They were outplayed in all aspects of the game.
You could smell this one coming. The New York Rangers started this four game road trip with an encouraging game in Edmonton that they lost in overtime. Bad officiating helped them lose the second game in Vancouver, but they were never really in it. Finally, it was time for a stinker.
Matthew Tkachuk was a dominant player for Calgary and had a piece of all five Flames goals. He is a rare talent and the kind of player that never ends up in a Ranger uniform. Whether it was brilliant passes or outstanding shots, he was better than any other player on the ice. The Rangers let Johnny Gaudreau in on a breakaway (off a great alley oop pass from Tkachuk) and of course, he scored.
It’s hard to believe that the Ranger were actually in this game for a while, tied 1-1 after one period. Poor Alexandar Georgiev was helpless as the Flames scored every possible way. The Ranger defense was unable to prevent the Flames from owning the front of the net and they were able to score on a series of uncontested deflections.
The only Ranger goal was on a very nice play by Ryan Strome. He got to a loose puck, entered the Flames zone and then spun and held the puck until Neal Pionk entered the zone, trailing the play. He fed Pionk who had an uncontested slap shot that he put into the corner of the net past David Rittich.
What a rocket from @NPionk95! We're tied in Calgary!
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That’s how the Rangers ended up tied after one period. The Flames owned the second and third periods. There’s really no need to discuss it, they were that good and the Rangers were that inferior. I won’t say that the Rangers were bad, they were just obviously playing a team head and shoulders better than they are.
Of course, there is a good side to any loss at this stage of the season and it was in the lottery standings. For scoreboard watchers, this was a good but not a great night for the Rangers.