Rangers drop a 6-2 stinker to Ottawa

Wow.  We should have seen this coming.  The New York Rangers were thoroughly beaten by the Ottawa Senators  in their worst game of the season. It was an awful display and serves as a reminder of how young this team is.

The New York Rangers lost a game that they should have won, embarrassed by a team that came into the game with the worst record in the NHL. Ottawa had come into the game without a road win and with the worst power play in the league.  They left with their first road win and they scored three (two official) power play goals in six opportunities.

For the first 14 minutes of the game, it looked like the Rangers would do what everyone thought they would.  They thoroughly dominated the Senators, not allowing them a shot for the first 11:23 while getting 10 shots on goal and taking a 1-0 lead on a goal by Kaapo Kakko.

The Rangers had numerous golden chances and it felt like it was going to be one of those game.  Despite the opportunities, they were never able to get that second goal that could have changed the face of the game.  They did the same thing in Nashville, missing on two breakaways and failing on the power play, but they were able to hang on.

Mikkel Boedker finally got the Senators first shot and at that point it started to turn around.   As Quinn put it, “The game was two different games.  It was the 11 minute game and there was the 49 minute game.  Unfortunately, we played the 11 minute game instead of the 49 minute game.”

Another turning point was a fight between Brendan Lemieux and Mark Borowiecki at the 13:43 mark.  When the smoke cleared and play resumed, the Senators took the next five shots and Ranger killer Jean-Gabriel Pageau  scored on an assist from ex-Ranger Anthony Duclair.

The Senators took control of the game and Brady Tkachuk took the Rangers out of their game, his agitation  resulting in a power play for Ottawa.  Brady Skjei then took a tripping penalty and the Blueshirts were down two men and of course, the worst power play in the league, with 5% efficiency, scored with the two man advantage.

The Senators ended up outshooting the Rangers 14-11, this after the Rangers had an 11-1 shot advantage and the period ended with the Blueshirts trailing 2-1.

In the second period things went from bad to worse.  Jacob Trouba took a needless hooking penalty and one second after the power play ended, Ron Hainsey scored the virtual power play goal to put the Senators up 3-1.

At 11:43, Pageau scored his second goal of the game. The Rangers had their best shift of the period when Pavel Buchnevich took an ill-advised shot from the blueline that was blocked and Pageau took off for the breakaway.

Three minutes later, Brady Tkachuck added an unassisted goal for a 5-1 lead.

Artemi Panarin finally scored a power play goal at the 17:42 mark and the period ended with the Rangers down 5-2.

Going into the third period, the hope was for a Rangers goal early to bring them within two goals, but it was Ottawa that scored on the power play after a soft hooking call on Panarin.  To rub salt into the wound, it was Vladislav Namestnikov who scored  his fifth goal of the season.   That wrapped up the scoring and the rest of the period was chippy with Ryan Lindgren taking a penalty for an illegal hit to the head of Boedker and a scrum that resulted in coincidental minors to Lemieux and Tkachuck and a ten minute misconduct for the Ranger.

The Rangers outshot the Senators 11-6  in the third period, but were unable to score and the Rangers took the loss meekly.