Rangers drop tight 1-0 decision to Predators
The New York Rangers and Nashville Predators played an outstanding game at Madison Square Garden that ended as a 1-0 win for the visitors. In a way, it was payback as the Blueshirts had traveled to Nashville and had done the same thing to the Predators, winning their first decision in October.
Though they lost, this was a well played, playoff-level hockey game. It featured tight checking, tough hitting, an airtight defense and outstanding goaltending from both teams. The Predators were just a little better and it paid off.
The Rangers should chalk this one up to experience, but it is the kind of game that they will need to win if they are to go deep in the playoffs. After a slow start, the Rangers turned it around and had the better of the play, but were stymied by Juuse Saros who right now, is one of the best goalies in the NHL. That slow start was helped by the Predators who came out hitting and kept the Rangers off balance. While the first period was scoreless, the Blueshirts could barely muster any offense and by the time they got going, it was too late.
Chris Kreider was very critical of the effort in his postgame comments saying “We didn’t play particularly well the other night and won and we carried that in this game. We didn’t get enough battles, win enough battles. They were finishing all of their checks, winning all their battles. It took us 20 minutes to figure that out…just can’t happen.”
Gerard Gallant was also pretty harsh in his assessment. “I didn’t like any of the game, to be honest with you. We played too soft, we didn’t play a hard enough game. It was a man’s game and we didn’t play it.”
It was the start that irked him. “They (Nashville) came in here and played a good road game. They played a hard game and we didn’t match the intensity they had especially in the first period. After that I thought it was better. First period they outbumped us and won all the one-on-one battles.”
It’s true. In the first period, they were outshot 13-6 and outhit 20-8. Alexandar Georgiev kept them in the game with a number of key saves.
GEORGIE 💪 pic.twitter.com/OulzFzPvmL
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 13, 2021
The Predators had seven high danger shots compared to only three for New York. It wasn’t until 1:44 into the second period that Nashville got on the scoreboard on a shot from the slot by and open Philip Tomasino.
Phil with the wrister! @gohermitage | #NSHvsNYR pic.twitter.com/V4Psp597vb
— Nashville Predators (@PredsNHL) December 13, 2021
The Rangers played Nashville pretty evenly for most of the period, but it took a massive hit by Jacob Trouba on Luke Kunin 16 minutes into the second period to really ignite the Rangers.
TROU TROU 🚂 pic.twitter.com/6YvzUanyBt
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 13, 2021
After the hit it was all Rangers, but it was too little too late.
They had one last chance to even the score when Adam Fox drew a tripping penalty with 14 minutes left in the game. Ryan Strome had three fabulous opportunities but was stoned by Saros.
Saros 😮 Unreal in the crease! pic.twitter.com/jatP6YbZ8Q
— Bally Sports: Preds (@PredsOnBally) December 13, 2021
If you want to see how good Juuse Saros was, look at this video recap.
No one left this game feeling bad about the Rangers effort, but with games coming up against Colorado and Vegas, they need to win some of these tight games against playoff contenders.
Notes on the game
- This was the second time the Rangers have been shut out this season. The first was a 6-0 blanking in Calgary in early November. They were shut out seven times last season just one year after a 2019-20 season when they were not shut even once.
- The last 1-0 loss was last February when they dropped a decision to the Bruins at Madison Square Garden.
- The Rangers ended the season series allowing only two goals to the Predators, both by Philip Tomasino.
- Alexandar Georgiev is back to his old form and had his best game of the season. Since taking over for Igor Shesterkin, he has allowed six goals on 123 shots for a save percentage (Sv%) of .951. For the season, he now has a .902 Sv% and a 2.85 goals against average (GAA). Considering he had the worst stats in the league just a week and a half ago, he is now 26th in GAA and 38th in Sv%, up from 44th in both.
- The Rangers were outhit 39-22. That’s the most hits against them in any one game and only the fifth time this season that they didn’t outhit the opponent.
- After giving up 13 shots in the first period, the Rangers allowed only 11 shots on goal the rest of the way. The Rangers had double the shot attempts over the last two periods. The Predators had only 10 shots on goal after they scored in over 38 minutes of play.
- Chris Kreider played in his 600th regular season game, becoming the 22nd Ranger to accomplish that. For the first time this season, he has gone three games without scoring a goal. He had gone scoreless in two straight games only twice this season.
- Late in the third period Coach Gallant shifted the lines. He put Kaapo Kakko back on the line with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome and move Julien Gauthier up with Mika Zibanejad and Kreider.
- Gallant relied heavily on Panarin and Zibanejad down the stretch, but nothing worked. Panarin played 23:53, one second less than his season high. Adam Fox led the team in ice time with 26:16.
- In a move that will start tongues wagging, Alexis Lafrenière played only two shifts in the third period and didn’t see the ice for the final 10 minutes of the game. When asked, Gallant said, “Just wanted to give him a seat, he wasn’t alone.” Ryan Reaves also sat out the last 13 minutes and Patrik Nemeth didn’t see the ice for the last seven minutes. It’s a concern when it comes to Lafrenière who has seen his ice time dwindle over the last five games.
- Libor Hajek played his first game of the season with Nils Lundkvist out with a non-COVID illness. Hajek played 12:53 and acquitted himself well. This was the first game a Ranger defenseman has missed this season due to illness or injury.
- Jacob Trouba’s hit on Luke Kunin was his third big hit in three games. It woke the team up and spurred the Rangers to a much better third period. They needed that kind of hit in the first period as a wake up call. As usual, the Predators targeted Trouba for retaliation, but with the score so close they didn’t want to risk penalties.
My 3 Rangers stars
- Jacob Trouba was the most physical player on the Rangers and as mentioned, his hit on Luke Kunin was exactly what the team needed. Trouba played 20:56 with two shots on goal, three blocks and four hits. He also missed on two shot attempts,.
- Alexandar Georgiev played an excellent game, though he was not tested often after the first period. The Rangers were pretty awful in the first period when the Predators had 12 scoring chances with seven of them high danger shots. He kept the Rangers in the game and deserved a win.
- Artemi Panarin was unable to get that one goal or assist, but it wasn’t for lack of trying. He led all forwards in ice time and had three shots on goal. The hope has to be that they keep Kakko on his line as the Dryden Hunt experiment may have run its course, especially against elite competition.
The official 3 stars
- Juuse Saros – Predators
- Alexandar Georgiev – Rangers
- Philip Tomasino – Predators
What’s next
The Rangers hit the road to Denver for a rematch against the Avalanche. Colorado will be without Gabriel Landeskog, out with a lower body injury, but they’ve won four in a row, scoring 24 goals and they beat the league leading Florida Panthers 3-2 Sunday night.
Game time is 9pm EST and the match will not be on regular cable on the MSG Network. The game will be live streamed on ESPN+ and will be available also on Hulu. Gee thanks. They then travel to Arizona on Wednesday night before returning to the Garden Friday to take on the Vegas Golden Knights.
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