Blue Line Station
Fansided

Rangers lose 2-1 to Canucks on a late goal

By Steve Paulus

VANCOUVER, BC - JANUARY 4: Kaapo Kakko #24 of the New York Rangers looks on as Jacob Markstrom #25 of the Vancouver Canucks makes a save during their NHL game at Rogers Arena January 4, 2020 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver won 2-1. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images)
VANCOUVER, BC - JANUARY 4: Kaapo Kakko #24 of the New York Rangers looks on as Jacob Markstrom #25 of the Vancouver Canucks makes a save during their NHL game at Rogers Arena January 4, 2020 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Vancouver won 2-1. (Photo by Jeff Vinnick/NHLI via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit
Prev
2 of 4
Next
Loui Eriksson #21 of the Vancouver Canucks checks Ryan Lindgren #55 of the New York Rangers
Loui Eriksson #21 of the Vancouver Canucks checks Ryan Lindgren #55 of the New York Rangers /

About the game

It was deja vu.  The Rangers knew that they had to keep Vancouver off the scoreboard early and sure enough, they gave up another goal in the first two minutes of the hockey game. Antoine Roussel got to the puck in front of the net and shot it past Georgiev.

While the work was done by Bo Horvat who got away from Ryan Lindgren, the fact is that the Ranger goalie could have frozen the puck, but shoveled it into the slot right to Roussel.  At that point it looked like it was going to be another one of those nights.

But the Rangers struck back just six minutes later when Pavel Buchnevich scored a hard working goal.

Buchnevich got crushed by Alex Edler against the boards, but was still able to move the puck.  Chris Kreider stole the puck from the Canucks defender and made a fantastic pass to Buchnevich who had gone to the front of the net.

Little did anyone know that neither team would score again for almost 50 minutes.  Special teams dominated the first two periods as the Rangers had two power plays in the first period and Vancouver had three in the second.  The Canucks outshot the Blueshirts 14-8 in the second period as a result, but Georgiev stood tall when he had to and they Rangers stymied the league’s fourth best power play.

The third period was all New York as the Rangers outshot Vancouver 14-6.   They just couldn’t put a puck in the net even though all four lines had dominant shifts in the Canucks’ zone.

With less than two minutes in the game, the Rangers iced the puck, leading to the lost faceoff and the winning Vancouver goal.

Both goalies were outstanding in the third period, though Jacob Markstrom had the harder saves.  Jacob Trouba had a golden opportunity with about three minutes left, but Markstrom stopped it.

It appeared that Georgiev was partially screened on the winning goal, but it was the kind of shot that has to be stopped.

The Rangers pulled their goalie with a minute and a half left in the game and kept the puck in the Canucks zone, but couldn’t score.  Pavel Buchnevich hit the crossbar with 41 seconds left, so puck luck was not in the cards for the Rangers in this game.

Home/Analysis