New York Rangers: Outclassed at even strength in 5-3 loss to Dallas

The game

The Rangers actually got off to a good start.  They matched the Stars at even strength to start and Artemi Panarin drew  tripping penalty on Andrew Cogliano who clearly thought that it was a dive.  It took all of one minute and two seconds for the Rangers to draw first blood and it was an odd goal.

This goal was totally on Anton Khudobin who was anticipating a Buchnevich pass to a streaking Zibanejad and was totally surprised when the sharp angle shot went into the net.  If you ever need proof that David Quinn’s “shoot the puck” mantra has merits, this was it.

The Blueshirts continued their fine play, but at 7:56, Brendan Smith took an absolutely needless penalty when he interfered with Corey Perry in the neutral zone.  Mika Zibanejad lost the faceoff and Tyler Seguin‘s point shot hit the crossbar.  The puck got back to John Klingberg who wristed it to the net where Joe Pavelski deflected it in for the Stars first power play goal in six games.  They had been 0-14 in their previous five games.

The Rangers thought that the Seguin shot deflected off the crossbar and into the netting so they challenged the goal.  After a lengthy video review, the challenge was overturned and the Rangers were given a delay of game penalty.   A giveaway and Joe Pavelski scored his second power play goal within 16 seconds.  That something you don’t see very often and it was the fastest pair of PP goals by the same player in the NHL since 2010 and Alex Ovechkin.

This goal shouldn’t have happened for a number of reasons.  First, if the team was not 100% sure that it had hit the netting, they shouldn’t have challenged and that means knowing you will have the video evidence.  In this case they didn’t and the delay of game penalty was crushing.

The second Pavelski goal came off a giveaway in the Rangers’ zone. Mika Zibanejad had the puck in center ice and instead of sending it deep, he passed back to Ryan Lindgren in the Rangers’ zone. Instead of sending it deep to the Stars’ end, Lindgren tried a pass to Marc Staal, but it was off target and Staal had to chase.  He threw the puck behind the net and it was intercepted by Seguin who game it to Jamie Benn who fed a wide open Pavelski for the easy goal.

In 16 seconds the game flipped completely and the Rangers were on their heels.  They got a life when the Stars were called for two many men on the ice and Brett Howden was able to bat down Brendan Lemieux‘s rebound of a Kaapo Kakko pass in the crease and punch it into the net.

The goal was initially waved off, but after review, it was called a good goal.  So the Rangers were able to go to the locker room tied 2-2 after a period that they should have had the lead. They had a decided 13-7 lead in shots on goal as well as shot attempts at 22-13

The Rangers edge in play disappeared in the second period and Lundqvist had to make some big saves including this one on Tyler Seguin at the start of the period.

The Stars had numerous odd man rushes and they finally cashed in when Stephen Johns scored his first goal in over two years on a slapshot from the blueline.  There was traffic in front of Lundqvist and the goal competely  deflated the Rangers.

The Stars put the game away four minutes later when Blake Comeau broke in on a two on one and beat Lundqvist cleanly with a shot off the post.  Comeau has had unusual success against Lundqvist, scoring 14 goals against him, one of the highest totals of any player in the NHL.  Should Lundqvist have stopped that shot?  It looked like it and David Quinn clearly thought so as he pulled Lundqvist and substituted Alexandar Georgiev to start the third period.

The Comeau break-in could have been limited except that Phil Di Giuseppe allowed him to break in and went to pursue the trailer on the play who was covered by Ryan Lindgren.

The third period was a story of men and boys.  The Stars were in full shutdown mode and used their big bodies to block and deflect shot  and generally keep the Rangers away from the crease.

Corey Perry put the icing on the cake when he beat Greg McKegg to a juicy rebound and slammed it home, ending a 24-game scoreless streak. Georgiev had absolutely no chance on the goal.

The Rangers made it feel like a game again when Brendan Lemieux deflected an Adam Fox shot for a power play goal with 6:43 left in the game.

It was Lemieux’s first goal since December 5.

The Rangers tried to make it exciting when they pulled Georgiev, but the only excitement was for the Stars as Pavelski tried for the hat trick.

He couldn’t score and the Rangers couldn’t mount a threat and the game ended as a 5-3 loss.