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:

Notes on the game

Both goalies were not at their best.  Koskinen was beaten twice on the stick side on stoppable shots.  Georgiev might have wanted three of the goals back.  Gallant wouldn’t criticize his goalie, just saying “He got peppered.”

Georgiev faced 39 shots, stopping 33 of them. The Rangers got only 25 shots on Koskinen.

Filip Chytil centered a line with Kevin Rooney and Sammy Blais and that line accounted for the first two goals of the game for the Rangers.  The trio worked well together and Chytil in particular was very involved.

Alexis Lafrenière was moved to the fourth line with Dryden Hunt and Greg McKegg and saw 9:02 of ice time, his lowest total of the season. Gallant snapped at the Post’s Mollie Walker when she asked about him.  Gallant was clearly annoyed by the constant questions about the #1 pick and said “Give it a rest, I thought he was fine. Give the kid a break.”

In his limited ice time, Lafrenière threw a team high three hits, but he was also on the ice for one Oilers goal.

The Rangers were outhit 27-21, only the second time that has happened this season.  Could they have done more?  It’s hard to hit what you cannot catch.

On the McDavid tying goal, all four Rangers tried to stickcheck him instead of taking the body and he was able to get through them to beat Georgiev. If a Ranger had taken the body, it might have resulted in a penalty and that would have been just as disastrous.

The Oilers power play is deadly and going two for two raised their percentage to an even 50%,  It was the first time the Rangers penalty kill has allowed two PP goals in a game since opening night.

The Rangers need to stop blowing third period lead.  Since 2010-11 the team has gone into the third period with a lead 306 times and have lost in regulation in  only 10 of those games.  They have lost 21 in overtime with only 11 of those losses in the last five seasons.  It’s a bad trend two have two OT losses in just 11 games.

McDavid has now scored six goals and 15 points in nine games against the Rangers. Draisaitl has five goals and 16 points in 13 games against the Blueshirts.

With his one assist, Adam Fox remains tied for the scoring lead among defensemen with Kevin Shattenkirk and Roman Josi, all with 12 points.  He is tied for the assists lead with 10, the same as Seth Jones.

Nils Lundkvist made his return to the lineup after sitting out two games and had an assist on the Chytil goal. He played 12:29, least of all the Ranger blueliners.

This will be the second set of back-to-back games for the Rangers and the first since the opening two games of the season.