New York Rangers vs Toronto Maple Leafs: Blueshirts overmatched in 6-3 loss
All of the flaws of the New York Rangers were exposed and their goalie had a bad game. The result was a one-sided 6-3 loss to the Maple Leafs.
It’s hard to believe that this was a tie game going into the third period. The Rangers had counter punched every time the Maple Leafs took the lead, but a bad third period was their downfall. Alexandar Georgiev was also not at his best and gave up several goals that could be called soft. It was not a good night.
The only positives that came out of this game was that two Rangers ended lengthy goal droughts and the team rebounded from three deficits to tie. The negative was the clearly superior talent that the Maple Leafs possess and how the Rangers just folded when they faced pressure.
It was easy to underestimate the Maple Leafs since they came into this game only two points better than the Blueshirts, but they are now 9-4 under new coach Sheldon Keefe and it sure looks like the two teams are headed in the opposite directions.
The game
The first period got off to a bad start. Two Leafs left unguarded in the slot….two goals. The two Leafs goals sandwiched a shot by Zibanejad that hit the crossbar. It looked like another tough night at MSG when the puck luck changed in the Rangers’ favor.
Chris Kreider got to a puck on the right boards in the Toronto zone and threw it to Mika ZIbanejad who was in front of the goal. ZIbanejad passed it to a wide open Brady Skjei in front of the net. Skjei tried to pull the puck back for a shot, but it trickled off his stick ,totally fooling Frederik Andersen and into the net.
After a Ryan Lindgren post, the Rangers knotted the score when Pavel Buchnevich stopped a puck behind the Leafs’ net, passed to Panarin who got the puck to Ryan Strome in front of the net who put it home for his first goal in 16 games.
The first period ended with the teams tied 2-2. The Maple Leafs outshot the Rangers 12-8, but the were closer in shot attempts 19-17.
The second period could have been a disaster, but again it ended in a tie. The Maple Leafs scored when they were up two men. Mika Zibanejad was called for interference when he collided with Kasperi Kapanen. 21 seconds later Brendan Smith had a chance to clear the puck, but gave it up and ended up taking a slashing penalty when he took a whack at Mitch Marner. In the ensuing two man advantage, the Marner scored to give the Maple Leafs the lead again.
It looked like John Tavares had scored, but the puck actually deflected off Brady Skjei and past Georgiev.
Less than three minutes later, the Rangers came right back when Pavel Buchnevich scored from slot. He got to a rebound of a Marc Staal shot from the blueline, spun around and shot.
The Blueshirts had another opportunity when Tyson Barrie was called for delay of game, but they couldn’t score. The period ended with the team tied. The Rangers were outshot 11-4 and the shot attempts were lopsided in favor of Toronto, 30-10. When Adam Fox took a roughing penalty at the end of the period, the Rangers were fortunate to get out with the tie, but had hopes for the third period.
The third period was a mess. Toronto scored just 2:10 into the third period when William Nylander beat Georgiev with a stoppable shot from the right faceoff circle. The crushing blow was just 47 seconds later when they scored again off a Ryan Strome giveaway. Strome had the puck in the Rangers zone and instead of getting it out, he went back with it and Mitch Marner stole the puck and scored.
David Quinn called a timeout and had a heated discussion with his team, but to no avail.
RALLY THE TROOPS pic.twitter.com/gHME96nrMh
— Rangers on MSG (@RangersMSGN) December 21, 2019
They had a golden opportunity to get back within a goal on the power play, but Frederik Andersen made a fabulous save off Pavel Buchnevich from the slot. Game, set, match.
With just under four minutes left in the game, Georgiev was beaten by a slap shot from Ilya Mikheyev to make it 6-3, but the game was long over by that time.
David Quinn put it best, “Our attention to detail against this team really was poor…just really sloppy, not recognizing situations, turnovers, really playing east-west more so than we have been lately. In my mind one of our poorer performances in a while.”
Notes on the game
This is the first three game losing streak since the second week of the season when they lost five in a row.
With 36 points in 34 games, they are one point better than last year when they had 35 points in 34 games.
Artemi Panarin’s five game goal scoring streak was stopped, though he did get an assist on the Strome goal.
That was Strome’s first goal in 16 games with his last goal over a month ago on November 16. He has had 11 assists in that span so he has been productive.
For Buchnevich, it was his first goal in ten games. He’s been in a goal scoring slump with only three goals in his last 25 games. He’s had only five points in his last 16 games.
Kaapo Kakko was on a new line with Filip Chytil and Brendan Lemieux. He has now gone 16 games without a goal and was minus three this game. The Rangers may seriously want to consider sending him to Hartford to get a confidence boost. He leads all rookies in plus/minus with a -13.
The two man advantage for the Maple Leafs was the sixth of the season against the Rangers. They have only killed one of them, allowed five goals. Not good.
The Blueshirts were unsuccessful on their three power plays. They are 0-9 over the last three games, all losses. They have allowed five power play goals the last nine time shorthanded.
The Rangers went back to their bad habit of allowing a lot of shots, giving up over ten shots in each of the three periods.
The Rangers are now 5-3-2 in games that they go into the third period tied. They are also 0-4-1 in games on Fridays. It’s the only day of the week that they haven’t won.
This was Alexandar Georgiev’s 60th game of his NHL career. He now needs to clear waivers if they want to send him to the AHL. That means the team will have to carry three goaltenders if they bring Igor Shesterkin up for a taste of NHL action.
Speaking of Shesterkin, Hartford was absolutely shelled by Charlotte in two games this week. They lost 6-3 on Tuesday and followed that up with a 7-1 loss the next night. Shesterkin gave up five goals in the first game and was pulled. In the second game it was Adam Huska who was pulled after giving up four goals in the first period. Shesterkin came in and allowed three goals on 20 shots, one on the power play. The Wolf Pack have one more game on Saturday night before the holiday break.
Noel Acciari scored the first two hat tricks of his career for Florida in consecutive games this week. It was the first time it has happened in 23 years. The first player to do it in NHL history was the Rangers Steve Vickers in November 1972.
- Pavel Buchnevich was the best of a bad lot in this game. He scored a crucial goal (at the time) and almost netted a power play goal in the third period. He also added an assist on the Strome goal with a play behind the net that was the key play. Hopefully, this will jumpstart his game.
- Ryan Lindgren quietly plays a solid game every time out. He didn’t get on the scoresheet, but he also didn’t embarrass himself on the ice. He finished with two blocks, one hit and two takeaways in 17:43 of ice time.
- “Mikemi Panarejad” gets the third star because both Panarin and Zibanejad always have a good game. Both players were the best players on the ice for the Rangers, but too often they are forced to do it all by themselves. Both assisted on Ranger goals and never gave up.
The official stars of the game
- William Nylander
- Mitch Marner
- Auston Matthews
What’s next
The Rangers have one day off and then host the Anaheim Ducks on Sunday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. They then go south to Philadelphia to play Alain Vigneault, Kevin Hayes and the Philadelphia Flyers in a crucial Metropolitan Division match-up. That game will be a test of how good this Ranger team really is.
They need to get back on track if they want to enjoy the Christmas holiday. Coincidentally, last season they also played Anaheim, Philadelphia and Toronto in their last three games before Christmas. They went 1-1-1 in those games, beating Anaheim, losing to the Leafs and losing in a shootout to the Flyers.
Related Story. What could they get for Georgiev. light