Rangers outclassed 5-2 by the defending champions
The New York Rangers were beaten as thoroughly as they have been in any game this season. Despite jumping out to the early lead, they were never really in this game.
Chalk this one up as a learning experience for this young New York Rangers team. They were manhandled by the reigning Stanley Cup champions and were taught a lesson about what it takes to win. The Blueshirts were dominated in every way in this game and it wasn’t pretty.
The Blues are a team without a superstar, but is a team that is so complete it is inspiring. At time if felt like they were toying with the Rangers and after an evenly played first period, it was all Blues.
The game
The game got off to a crazy start when a communication issue between Henrik Lundqvist and Brady Skjei almost resulted in a wide open point blank shot. Shortly after that, everyone in the rink was surprised when Filip Chytil broke into the Blues zone and put one past Jordan Binnington who was probably the most surprised person in the arena. Chytil was spring by a nice outlet pass from Ryan Lindgren.
Chytil’s rush started in the Ranger zone and he scored with a great wrist shot. That folks was the high point of the game for New York.
The Blueshirts had a golden opportunity when Micheal Haley drew a double minor for high sticking to Robert Bortuzzo. The Rangers power play was awful with them getting only two shots on goal, the same as the shorthanded Blues. It got even worse when the penalty ended and Bortuzzo was sprung for a breakaway exiting the penalty box.
The defenseman broke in on Lundqvist who did not play the breakaway well and Bortuzzo put the puck between the goalie’s legs for his first goal of the season to tie the game.
The Rangers had their opportunities included a wrap-around attempt by Adam Fox that just missed
Defenseman Vince Dunn added a second goal with less than two minutes left in the first period. It was a classic Ranger defensive shift as they were hemmed in their end, gave up the puck and Dunn was wide open coming in from the point.
On the whole, it wasn’t an awful period for New York. The Blues had the shot advantage 9-8 and the Rangers were almost even on faceoffs.
The second period began with a hooking penalty called on Pavel Buchnevich. The Blues score once on every four power plays and it didn’t long for their top scorer, David Perron to score the backbreaker. It was inevitable as Mika Zibanejad had broken his stick and the Rangers couldn’t clear the puck from the zone.
The Blueshirts fought back and the Chytil line did it again, with Brett Howden scoring on an excellent Chytil feed. Howden didn’t even have to shoot the puck as it hit his stick and deflected into the goal.
That goal drew the Rangers within 3-2 and it felt like a game again…for almost two minutes. Then, Zach Sanford scored on a brilliant passing play with Jacob de la Rose. A few minutes later Tony DeAngelo hit a crossbar and the Blues came right back down the ice and Jaden Schwartz scored the fifth goal to ice the win.
The rest of the game was back and forth with a scoreless third period, but the Rangers were never really in the game and the Blues defense just shut them down completely. The Blueshirts could only muster only 15 shots over the last two periods to 20 for the Blues. It was a classic lead protection effort and the game ended with a scrum between the two teams that resulted in misconduct penalties for Brendan Smith and Jacob Trouba.
The good news was the play of the “kid line” as they accounted for both goals. The bad news was the Blues were able to shut down the Rangers top lines though Artemi Panarin was on the ice and got the secondary assist on Howden’s goal.
The bad news was also that Lundqvist didn’t look sharp in his first game in nine days. Libor Hajek returned from injury and showed his rust with one miscue that resulted in a Blues goal.
Notes on the game
- Henrik Lundqvist has now tied John Vanbiesbrouck in ninth place all-time in games played with 882. He is only four behind Tony Esposito for eighth place,but with this three goalie system, who knows when he will play again?
- From the greatest night of his career to a forgettable one. Anthony DeAngelo made some awful passes and finished minus three on the night.
- As a matter of fact, all of the Rangers top forwards had bad nights led by Panarin, Zibanejad, Strome and Kreider.
- Chytil’s 11th goal tied his career high set last season. Last year it took him 75 games to score 11 goals, this year it took only 36 games, less than half.
- The Blues have led after the first period 16 times this season and have yet to lose in regulation. This was the eight home win in a row for St. Louis, the high this season in the NHL.
- In the 15 games the Rangers have trailed after one period, they have come back to win only three times.
- Marc Staal was scratched due to injury and Steve Fogarty sat in favor of Micheal Haley. It was Haley’s first game since December 28, a span of 15 days.
- With the win, the Blues are now tied with Washington and Boston with 65 points, most in the league.
- The two teams close out the season series when St. Louis visit Madison Square Garden on March 3.
- The voting is over for the “Last Man In” All-Star Game competition and Mika Zibanejad fell short in the Metropolitan Division, losing out to T.J. Oshie. In the Central, David Perron was voted in, appropriately as the game will be played in St. Louis.
My three stars of the game
- Filip Chytil and the kid line did a lot of good things. Chytil used his patented rush to the net to score the first goal of the game and he is showing no hesitation to crash the net. The young Czech is really developing nicely and is headed towards a career season,
- Adam Fox had a very solid game on defense and he and Ryan Lindgren were both plus two, the only defensemen in the lineup who were positive in this game. Fox had one outstanding rush and almost scored on a wrap around.
- Although he works hard every game, Brett Howden hasn’t been rewarded, but this game he was. It was only his third goal in 25 games so he was long overdue. Howden and Chytil were both plus two on the night, the only forwards to be in the plus column.
The official three stars of the game
- David Perron
- Zach Sanford
- Robert Bertuzzo
Up next
The Rangers return home to play the first of three games against the Islanders in nine days. The Isles have hit a bit of a rough patch lately, but they absolutely love to beat the Rangers so these should be good games.
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