New York Rangers vs Blue Jackets: A bitter 2-1 last minute loss

The game

The first period was tightly played with both teams fairly tentative. The Rangers were guilty of their biggest fault as they repeatedly went for the perfect pass and not shooting when they had the chance. With a goalie in his first NHL game, you would think the mindset would have been shoot-shoot-shoot.

At 16:15 Brady Skjei took a hooking penalty and the Rangers had to kill the only penalty of the period.  Ryan Lindgren almost scored shorthanded on a spectacular rush and as the penalty expired, Brady Skeji was sprung for a breakaway.

Trouba made the pass that Skeji got to as it rebounded off the boards and paused and put the shot past Kivlienieks glove hand.  The Rangers went into the intermission with a 1-0 lead.

In the second period the Rangers tested Kivlienieks repeartedly, but he was up to the task.

If anything, the Rangers had the geographic advantage, but were guilty of overpassing again and missed on some golden opportunities.

The third period, the Rangers started to lose some of the defensive discipline they had displayed over the first two periods.  Six minutes into the third period, Oliver Bjorkstrand tied the score and it was a classic case of dangerous plays leading to a goal.  Watch it.

First Jesper Fast tries a drop pass in the offensive zone, but Pierre-Luc Dubois reads the play and takes the puck.  The rush is stopped at the blue line, but both Panarin and Strome peel off to start a rush and  Panarin loses the puck and it goes right to Bjorkstrand who wrists home a laser past Shersterkin.

The game remained tight until the last minute when a bad change led to another opportunity for the Blue Jackets.

It was a horrible line change with the Panarin line going off the ice, leaving Skjei and Trouba facing a three-on-two and Bjorkstand snapped the shot past Shesterkin who was screened on the shot by Skjei and Dubois.   Ryan Strome half heartedly stick checked the Columbus player as he went off allowing the odd man rush.  It was a terrible defensive play by that line at the worst possible time.

David Quinn was very critical of the Rangers’ play, singling out the team’s effort. About the winning goal, he said “we got what we deserved when the night ended…to give up a three-on-two with 28 seconds to go is just inexcusable and a really bad change…at the wrong time, but we were playing with fire for a while. ”

It’s on to the Islanders on Tuesday night in their final game before the All-Star break.