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

Notes on the game

The Ranger goals were scored by players who are 21, 23 and 24 years old.  The Stars goals were scored by players who are 27, 33, 34 and 35 years old.  Big difference.

The Rangers ended some negative streaks.  Kaapo Kakko had his first point in 12 games. Howden scored his first goal in seven games. It was Brendan Lemieux’s first goal in 14 games.

Lundqvist was pulled after the second period and he wasn’t happy with his play.  He said “we some mistakes and unfortunately I wasn’t able to clean that up….it is what it is.”  Quinn said that he did it partially to try to energize his team, “it was just a feel, the mojo, just more about giving us a little big of a boost because we really got flat after that third goal.  Just a feeling.”

Pavel Buchnevich scored the first power play goal, but by the third period he was riding the bench. He was on the ice for the Blake Comeau goal and saw only one shift after that in the second period.  In the third period he was on the ice for his first shift when Corey Perry scored and had only one other shift in the period, playing a total of 1:39 in the third.  When asked, Quinn said “I didn’t like his game at all.” When asked specifically what he didn’t like, the answer was “I didn’t like a lot of his game at all.”  Ouch.

Artemi Panarin had a tough game.  He seemed to be trying to do too much and was guilty of overpassing and overplaying the puck throughout the game.  He did notch an assist on the first Rangers goal.

David Quinn was insistent that they believed that the Seguin shot went off the netting before Pavelski scored.  MSG Network found a replay that clearly showed the puck hit the top edge of the glass and not the netting.  You cannot challenge a call like that if you aren’t absolutely sure.

This was the first time that the Rangers have challenged a goal this season. They were 1-4 last season, losing two challenges for goalie interference and one for offsides.

Phil Di Giuseppe played his first game as a Ranger and saw 12:32 of ice time and had four shots on goal. He played well though his confusion on coverage led to the odd man rush for Blake Comeau

Stephen Johns of the Stars scored his first goal of the season on a blistering slapshot in the second period.   This was his fourth game back after missing over a season and a half after suffering a concussion in March 2018.  It’s a great story that he was able to comeback from  the long layoff.

The Rangers are scoring on the power play,  not so much at even strength.  Seven of the last 10 goals scored by the team in the last four games have been with the man advantage.

The Rangers loss, combined with  a Flyers’ win leaves the Blueshirts 10 points out of the wildcard. Playoff chances are slipping away.