It wasn’t a happy homecoming for the New York Rangers who were blighted by lousy officiating and the inability to put the puck in the net in a 5-2 loss to the Nashville Predators on Monday.
After returning to Madison Square Garden following a four-game road trip on the west coast, the New York Rangers had themselves a Manic Monday for all the wrong reasons.
Looking to bounce back from a tough loss in Anaheim on Saturday, the Blueshirts instead dropped a second straight game for the first time in a month.
It wasn’t for the lack of trying, though.
They outshot the Predators 15-8 in the first period but did fall behind to a Rocco Grimaldi goal, although Chris Kreider‘s eighth goal of the year made it a tied game heading into the second.
It was a similar story in the middle frame as the Blueshirts once again peppered the Nashville goal with a flurry of shots, but they were coming up against a red hot goalie in Juuse Saros who was almost unbeatable.
That allowed the Predators to flex their attacking muscles as Roman Josi and Mattias Ekholm both struck to heap more misery on the Rangers, who were incensed after Ryan Ellis was only given two minutes for a clear elbow to the head on Pavel Buchnevich.
Those frustrations only increased in the third period as, and despite Artemi Panarin scoring for the fifth straight game, Josi tallied his second of the night before Ellis iced the game for Nashville.
It was a hugely exasperating night for the Rangers who outshot the Predators 41-24, which is a huge shot advantage, while their woes were compounded when Brendan Lemieux was given a ten minute misconduct in what was an incredibly soft call.
Let’s not waste another minute and let’s delve into some takeaways from last night’s contest at Madison Square Garden…