New York Rangers: Big-boy hockey, other takeaways from Blues loss
It was another tough and costly loss for the New York Rangers who dropped a 3-1 decision to the St. Louis Blues at Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night.
In truth, it was a pretty good effort from the New York Rangers against the reigning Stanley Cup champions, although they couldn’t prevent the Blues from ripping off an eighth straight win.
But it was actually a good start for the Blueshirts who continue to adapt to life without Chris Kreider, who is out 4-6 weeks with a fractured foot.
Mika Zibanejad continued his hot streak with his 33rd goal of the year, one-timing a Ryan Strome dish beyond Jordan Binnington.
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It was the perfect demonstration of how deadly the Rangers can be on the man advantage, although the tide quickly turned.
St. Louis got an opportunity on the power play themselves in the second period, and they took it as Colton Parayko took full advantage of a lucky bounce to unleash a wrister past Alexandar Georgiev from the right circle.
The Rangers responded, however, and they actually outshot the Blues 12-6 in the third period as they more than held their own against the Stanley Cup champions.
But, the Blues are an elite team and they displayed the killer instinct all contenders need as Brayden Schenn banked in a wraparound attempt off Georgiev for the game-winner.
And the game was iced in the final seconds thanks to Jaden Schwartz who took a dish from Ryan O’Reilly before scoring into an empty net.
Although the New York Rangers traded blows with the St. Louis Blues, it was still a costly loss and we had some takeaways from the contest…