Rangers blow another third period 2-goal lead, lose to Edmonton 6-5 in OT

For the second straight game, the New York Rangers took a 4-2 lead into the third period.  For the second straight game they blew the lead and lost in overtime.  This one hurt even more because they retook the lead only to see the Oilers tie it in the final three minutes.

An optimist would say that the Rangers have taken four points out of six so far on a difficult road trip.  An optimist would say that the Rangers have come away with points in nine of their last 10 games.   An optimist would say that the Blueshirts took one of the best teams to overtime and almost beat them.

A realist would say that this team still has a lot to learn about winning and playing smart hockey.  Blowing third period leads is bad.  Blowing two goal leads in the third period is unacceptable. It’s from the frying pan into the fire as they play the second of back-to-back games against the red hot Calgary Flames.

About the game

The one thing the Rangers knew that they had to do was stay out of the penalty box and for the most part they were successful.  They took only two penalties in a game for only the third time this season and unfortunately, the Oilers scored both times.

The other thing they knew going in was that the Oilers top players are almost unstoppable and they proved it. Both Connor McDavid and Leon Draisaitl had a goal and two assists with McDavid scoring the late third period tying goal and Draisaitl winning it in overtime.

The good news was it was the biggest offensive outburst of the season for the Rangers, but it was also the most goals that they have allowed.    They got off to a quick start when Filip Chytil scored just 1:53 into the game on a wicked shot from the slot.

Zack Hyman knotted the score and they finished the first period tied 1-1.

Ranger fans were pinching themselves when the Blueshirts scored three goals in 4:04.  Kevin Rooney, newly added to the third line scored after Chytil stole the puck in the Oilers’ zone.

Kreider then scored his eighth goal of the season and his second straight on the rush.

The Rangers got a power play and were dominant with Mika Zibanejad deflecting a  Strome pass by Mikko Koskinen.

The Rangers got another power play, but the Oilers had the better chances and that penalty kill seemed to give them some life.  That’s when the Rangers’ Ryan Strome took a penalty and they nearly killed it off before the Oilers scored with just 12 seconds left.   That gave the Rangers the dreaded 4-2 lead.

The one thing that the Rangers didn’t want to do was to take a penalty early in the third period and Mike Zibanejad took a tripping penalty when his stick got caught up in McDavid’s skates just 24 seconds in.  Tyson Barrie scored just 36 seconds later and it was off to the races.

Clearly on their heels, the Rangers could barely clear their zone and Jess Puljujarvi scored his second goal of the game about two minutes later to tie the score.

Zibanejad made up for his penalty by scoring the go ahead goal on a rush with Chris Kreider and all the Rangers could do was try to hold on for the last 12:42.

They almost made it when Connor McDavid took over and scored a highlight reel goal, stickhandling from the blue line and through four Rangers to beat Georgiev.

The overtime was not especially exciting as both teams played keepaway until the Oilers took advantage of a turnover in the Rangers zone and Darnell Nurse fed a wide open Draisaitl who lasered it past Georgiev.

After the game, Coach Gerard Gallant said that the team played well for 35 minutes, then gave the Oilers too much room and “started watching them.”   He explained,  “The first 35 minutes was great, we played fast, we won footraces to the puck, once we got up 4-1 they scored that power play goal and it was downhill from there.”

Here’s a full video recap of the game: