Blue Line Station
Fansided

Sluggish start, other takeaways from 4-1 loss to Vegas

By Andrew Steele-Davis

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 02: The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a power-play goal by Alex Tuch #89 at 3:50 of the first period against Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on December 02, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - DECEMBER 02: The Vegas Golden Knights celebrate a power-play goal by Alex Tuch #89 at 3:50 of the first period against Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on December 02, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
1 of 5
Next
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 02: Max Pacioretty #67 of the Vegas Golden Knights (R) celebrates his power-play goal at 6:20 of the second period against Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on December 02, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 02: Max Pacioretty #67 of the Vegas Golden Knights (R) celebrates his power-play goal at 6:20 of the second period against Henrik Lundqvist #30 of the New York Rangers at Madison Square Garden on December 02, 2019 in New York City. (Photo by Bruce Bennett/Getty Images) /

It’s the hope that kills you. Riding a five-game point streak and closing in on a playoff spot, the New York Rangers took another few steps back after putting up an absolute stinker to the Vegas Golden Knights.

Everything was trending in the right direction and the New York Rangers looked to be finally putting everything together, but they were handed a rather large glass of reality juice at Madison Square Garden on Monday.

Looking to make it five straight wins on home ice, the Blueshirts were outplayed and outclassed from the very first drop of the puck.

Alex Tuch got the Golden Knights on the board in the opening few minutes after his shot squirmed through the body of Henrik Lundqvist, before the puck was knocked into the net by the goalie.

Tuch was responsible for heaping more pain on the Rangers too after converting on the power play as Vegas outshot New York 17-12 in an ugly first period.

It only got worse for the Blueshirts, too, as Reilly Smith, who was going up against older brother Brendan, scored on the breakaway before Max Pacioretty punished New York’s penalty kill yet again.

Brendan Lemieux did get the Rangers on the board in the second period but it was too little too late on what was just a night to forget.

The Rangers also came up against a hot goalie in Malcolm Subban who stopped 29 of 30 shots, and it was a harsh reality check for this team who tend to swing from one extreme to the other.

Let’s go through some takeaways from a bad loss at MSG…

Home/Analysis