In one of the strangest games of this season the New York Rangers lost to the Pittsburgh Penguins for the fifth time in six games. The loss dropped the team seven points out of a playoff spot and in serious trouble
Why was it a strange game? Many reasons.
- Jack Johnson scored a goal for the Rangers.
- The Rangers allowed three late goals, the first by Jake Guentzel with 1:06 left in the first period. The second by Kasperi Kapanen with 20 seconds left in the second and a third empty net goal by Sidney Crosby with 33 seconds left in the game.
- The Rangers held the Penguins to only one shot on goal in the third period and that shot went in, Crosby’s empty net goal.
- The Rangers outshot the Penguins 15-1 in the third period and both teams came out of the period with one goal.
- The Rangers set a new franchise record for hits with 58.
- Both Ranger goals went in off Penguins defenseman John Marino’s legs.
- The Penguins blocked 23 shots.
What wasn’t unusual was that the Rangers lost as they blew a 1-0 lead allowing two crippling late period goals and a devastating shorthanded goal just 2:40 into the second period. The timing of all of the Penguins goals were the last thing the fragile Rangers needed and they didn’t recover until the third period.
After the game, Coach David Quinn and his players pointed to the third period comeback as a positive. It’s true that Pavel Buchnevich had two opportunities to score at the end of the game,but Tristan Jarry stood on his head and denied the Rangers for the win.
A dominant third period is small consolation when a team cannot take advantage. The Rangers have gone into the third period trailing eight times and have lost them all. This was their best effort of any of those games, but they still came up short.
Here’s a full video recap of the game.