2019 ended on a wild note with the New York Rangers dropping a 7-5 decision to the Edmonton Oilers. The Blueshirts came charging back from a six goal deficit with four third period goals but came up short.
The New York Rangers salvaged some respect in a game that they trailed 6-0. After the Oilers scored six goals in the first 35 minutes, the Rangers came back and almost pulled for a miracle. They scored one goal as the second period ended and added four more in the third, but an empty net goal sealed their fate.
Alexandar Georgiev had probably his worst game in the NHL giving up six goals on 24 shots. Henrik Lundqvist came in to relieve him with just over four minutes left in the game and held the Oilers scoreless, making six saves and the ice was tilted in the Rangers favor.
Special teams also failed the Blueshirts as the Rangers allowed three power play goals in six opportunities. The Rangers had one power play in the first 90 seconds of the game and didn’t draw another penalty.
The game
Talk about bad starts. The Oilers scored all of 11 seconds into the game. Zack Kassian won a puck battle behind the net with Ryan Lindgren and threw the puck to James Neal in front of the net.
Bang. 1-0 Oilers.
The Rangers settled down after that and played a solid game though they were unsuccessful on a power play. When Brett Howden was called for tripping at 8:38 it took the Oilers eight seconds to scored on a slapshot from the point by Oscar Klefbom that Neal deflected for his second goal.
Things went from bad to worse when Ryan Nugent-Hopkins scored on a wrist shot from the point by Ethan Bear.
Whether any of the three were stoppable is a question as the Oilers were able to crowd the front of the net inimpeded resulting in all three goals. David Quinn immediately called a time out to try to settle down the team. The first period ended with the score still 3-0 with the Oilers outshooting the Rangers 11-9.
The second period was scoreless for the first 13 minutes, but there was some absolutely bizarre officiating during that time. At 5:20, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins was called for hooking Tony DeAngelo and it looked like a Ranger power play, but Ryan Strome was called for a double minor for high sticking so the Blueshirts man advantage turned into an Oilers power play. The Rangers were able to kill the penalty due to some nice penalty killing by the Blueshirts, especially Jesper Fast. They had to kill another one when they were called for another too many men on the ice penalty right after killing the Strome penalty.
At the 12:13 mark things started to really fall apart. Jujhar Khaira and Ryan Lindgren got involved in a scrum with both players exchanging cross checks, but when the penalties were called, Lindgren got another two minutes for a phantom slash. On replay, there just wasn’t any slash to be seen. Of course, Leon Draisaitl scored 58 seconds into the power play on a puck that hit off Nugent-Hopkins’ skate.
David Quinn was irate and was called for a minor penalty. It took 12 seconds for James Neal to get a hat trick, taking a pass from Connor McDavid after Draisaitl won a neutral zone faceoff. McDavid went right around Brendan Smith and fed Neal in the slot.
The Oilers weren’t done. Josh Archibald was streaking into the Ranger zone on a breakaway but Georgiev came way out of the crease and got to the puck first. Jacob Trouba had a chance to clear the puck, but handed it right to the Oilers Riley Sheahan who fed Archibald who beat Georgiev.
The Ranger goalie was totally disgusted, slamming his stick in to the post. Of the six goals, this was one that he should have had. The others were pretty solid shots that would have required outstanding saves. That was it for Georgiev as Lundqvist came in to relieve the beleaguered Bulgarian.
Chris Kreider scored with only 26 seconds left in the period on a pass from Artemi Panarin. The two Rangers broke in on a three on two with Brady Skjei who fed Panarin. At that point, it was just good news to break up the shutout.
It did more than that, it gave the team momentum.