New York Rangers: Lousy officiating, other takeaways from Preds loss

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…

2. Inconsistent officiating

There is an almighty storm swirling around the NFL right now when it comes to officiating, while the NHL has also had its fair share of dodgy calls too.

And the New York Rangers were handed a double whammy on Monday with referees Kelly Sutherland and Jean Hebert both having stinkers.

They set the tone for what was to come early and they failed to take control of the game, which is a cardinal sin for officials.

Now let’s discuss the two major incidents that proved to be gigantic blemishes on the game and also highlighted the lack of consistency that exists in officiating.

Firstly, Nashville defenseman Ryan Ellis somehow escaped with a two-minute penalty in the second period despite clearly planting his elbow in to the head of Pavel Buchnevich.

It was a horrific call and it was an ugly hit that left Buchnevich having to go through the concussion protocol in the wake of the blatant headshot.

Then, to compound the Rangers’ frustrations, Brendan Lemieux was given a ten-minute game misconduct for brushing past Kyle Turris before going at Roman Josi a little bit.

The offense wasn’t worth a two-minute penalty in my opinion, let alone a game misconduct, but it just summed up how god awful the officiating was.

We’ll see if the NHL decides to take any action on Ryan Ellis, but it wasn’t a night the league should be proud of when it comes to officiating.

3. Rangers need secondary scoring

With Artemi Panarin scoring for the fifth straight game on Monday, the Russian stud and Mika Zibanejad have now scored 31 goals between them this year.

That is great but when you compare it to the fact that the rest of the lineup has contributed 48 goals, it raises one of this team’s biggest flaws.

A lack of secondary scoring.

For two players to score around 40% of the goals scored by forwards isn’t conducive to sustainable team success – the Edmonton Oilers are in the same boat too.

Granted, Ryan Strome is second on the team in points with 28 (six goals, 22 assists), while Filip Chytil has been a man reborn since being recalled from the AHL.

However, the Rangers need more from certain members of their lineup and this was evident last night.

Despite what the final number on the scoreboard suggested, the Blueshirts actually played well against the Nashville Predators but they just lacked that killer instinct.

They certainly created the chances after outshooting the Preds 41-24, but a red hot goalie in Juuse Saros coupled with that missing quality when it really counts hurt the Rangers dearly on Monday.

So, what is the solution?

Could Vitali Kravtsov be the answer? The Russian prospect has just been recalled from the KHL and he could be primed for another stab at the NHL soon.

Or the Rangers could decide to inject some fresh forward talent into their roster by trading Chris Kreider and getting some assets back in return.

Whatever the front office decides to do, the New York Rangers need secondary scoring and this was painfully evident against the Predators.

4. Breadman cruising towards career-highs

We won’t spend too much time talking about him because, at the end of the day, what else is there to say, but Artemi Panarin is an absolute god.

The Russian stud has been lights out for the Rangers and he’s proving with every game that he’s worth every dollar of the mega contract he was given during the off-season.

He was at it again against the Predators as he recorded his 20th goal of the year and it was also the fifth consecutive game that he had got on the board.

That moment was significant because Panarin has reached the 20 goal plateau in just 33 games this year, compared to achieving 20 goals in 48 games last season.

Impressive stuff indeed and it means that the elite forward is well on pace to surpass his career-high 31 goals he scored in 2016-17 for the Chicago Blackhawks, while he could threaten the 87 points he totalled last year.

There aren’t enough superlatives in the dictionary to describe Artemi Panarin at this point, and he’s exactly the type of game-changer this franchise has been craving.