The headlines will be that the Florida Panthers’ amazing start was derailed by the Rangers, 4-3, at Madison Square Garden. The Panthers lost their first game of the season and it took 12 games and the New York Rangers to do it. For the Rangers’ players, coach and their fans, it was another close call and blown lead as the Blueshirts took a 4-0 advantage into the third period and barely hung on for the win.
Gerard Gallant was uncharacteristically negative after the game. While he usually accentuates the positive, he was clearly disturbed by the Rangers’ play in the third period. He pulled no punches when discussing another blown lead. “It carried over again tonight. It was no fun watching that. You win a game against an undefeated team, a great team, and you don’t feel good about that one. I’ll take the two points later, but its not the way you’ve got to play hockey.”
He pointed specifically to the work in the defensive zone and giving up good chances. “We give up the slot shots more than anybody else. Were still giving up way to much in the defensive zone.”
He did talk about the heavy road schedule and it’s true, the Rangers have played the most games of any team in the NHL and only the Islanders have more road games, but it was not an excuse. “Tonight we battled for two periods…that third period…it’s not acceptable for us. We’ve got to fight through it… we gotta be men…winning four nothing and to let them come back and almost tie it up.”
You could see that the Blueshirts were deflated leaving the ice and Igor Shesterkin didn’t even come out to accept first star honors.
Still, they did beat an elite team, meaning they have wins over Florida and Toronto and took to Edmonton to overtime in games against the NHL’s best to offset their two losses to Calgary. The Rangers sit in second place in the Metropolitan Division with the NHL’s fourth highest point total. The bad news is that there are ten teams with games in hand who could pass the Rangers if they win those games.