Rangers blow 3rd period lead & lose 4-3 to Panthers
The New York Rangers are having a hard time convincing the rest of the hockey world that they are for real. With this game, they didn’t do themselves any favors. For the first time this season the Rangers took a lead into the third period and lost in regulation. It took three third period goals by the Florida Panthers, the same number of third period goals the Panthers scored in their first game in New York in November.
The Rangers had taken a 2-1 lead on goals by Artemi Panarin and Mika Zibanejad and had stifled the Panthers offense in the second period. It all came crashing down in the third period. There were several keys to this loss.
- The Rangers had numerous opportunities on two early power plays but couldn’t score.
- Ryan Strome was stopped on a breakaway.
- Ryan Strome hit the crossbar on another prime opportunity.
- Julien Gauthier was stopped by a great defensive play on a break-in with an open net.
- Igor Shesterkin was fabulous early, but two of the three third period goals were stoppable.
As expected, Coach Gerard Gallant said he was pleased with the overall effort. He said “I was real happy with the first two periods…good solid play from both teams, in the third we got away from it, made a couple mistakes that ended up in the back of our net…overall, for the first game I thought the fans got everything they wanted.”
Gallant was right, the first two periods were a textbook example of how to play a road game. The Rangers were opportunistic in scoring and they played a very solid defense, holding the league’s top shooting team to only seven shots in the second period.
The Rangers looked sluggish to start the third period then took a penalty. Although the penalty kill was excellent, the Panthers tied the game just 17 seconds after the penalty expired. It was a crusher. They gave up a fourth goal to Anthony Duclair when no one picked him up and were able to pull within one when Chris Krieder scored with Shesterkin pulled, but with only 44.4 seconds left, there just wasn’t enough time.
Here is a video recap of the game.
It’s always disappointing to blow a third period lead, but coming back to win is a trademark for Florida as they have done it four times this season, the most in the NHL. The encouraging thing is the Rangers went toe-to-toe with one of the best teams in the league on the road and almost pulled off a win.
The discouraging thing is it reinforced what we already know. That this is a two-line team and will win on the strength of their first two lines and their goaltender since they are getting next to no offense from their bottom six.
The defensive breakdowns in the third period were disappointing, but they had several opportunities to put this game away and they couldn’t. Did they miss Ryan Lindgren and Kevin Rooney? In the third period they certainly did, but that’s a depth issue.
Notes on the game
The Rangers held the Panthers to 32 shots, only the third time they have had so few shots this season in 18 home games. Florida improved their league best home record to 15-3-0.
The Rangers have now won only once in their last five games, twice in their last seven. They have blown third period leads for two straight games going 0-1-1.
The good number is that the Rangers have gone 10-1-3 in games they have led after two periods. The bad number is the five points that they would have had if they had been able to hang on to those leads.
The loss dropped their record against teams currently in the playoffs is a mediocre 3-8-2.
The Rangers have pulled their goalie four times this season and scored twice. However, they have lost all four of those games like they did tonight.
Igor Shesterkin looked good in his first action in almost a month. He was particularly good in the first period, but had some difficulties in the third.<
Hey, Mr. Carter 🎶 pic.twitter.com/fR10siLl9O
— Florida Panthers (@FlaPanthers) December 30, 2021
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The three third period goals were all the result of mistakes. On the first, the Rangers had just killed a penalty to Libor Hajek, but were unable to get a play stoppage so when Florida entered the zone the Rangers had three defensemen on the ice. Without a center, nobody picked up MacKenzie Weegar who was open in the slot for the shot. On the second goal, it was all on Shesterkin who allowed a goal to Carter Verhaege on a partial screen by Adam Fox. On the third goal, nobody picked up Anthony Duclair who had blocked a Ranger shot and led the rush into the offensive zone. Jacob Trouba was late in getting back and could have checked Duclair who was wide open for the snap shot.
For Anthony Duclair, it was his sixth goal in 15 games against the team that drafted and traded him.
Artemi Panarin takes great joy in tormenting his buddy, Sergei Bobrovsky. He scored his sixth goal in six games against his former Columbus teammate. It was a spectacular between the legs move.
An icon in motion pic.twitter.com/v4TOgInPgx
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 30, 2021
With two points, Panarin is seventh in the NHL in scoring
Chris Kreider pick up the Rangers’ third goal with their goalie pulled. It was his 19th of the season, moving him into sole possession of fourth place in the NHL goal scoring race.
Mika Zibanejad scored his eighth goal of the season. He has four goals and seven points in his last six games.
Libor Hajek played 18:32 feisty minutes. He was on ice for three of the Panthers’ goals, but also got his first point of the season, assisting on Zibanejad’s goal.
The penalty kill was a perfect two for two and have now killed nine straight over three games.
The Rangers were outhit for only the seventh time this season 40-30. The 40 hits were the most by a team against the Blueshirts this season. Patric Hornqvist had eight hits while Ryan Reaves led the Rangers with six.
My 3 Rangers stars
Artemi Panarin
elevates his game against top opponents and this was another example. His goal was something special and his work on the Zibanejad goal was amazing.
Thank you Artemi Panarin for being a #NYR pic.twitter.com/XIRJj2jpTx
— New York Rangers (@NYRangers) December 30, 2021
He finished with a goal and an assist and also set up the Kreider goal, but didn’t get a point. He reminded everyone why he is the team’s best player.
The official 3 stars
- Anthony Duclair – Florida
- MacKenzie Weegar – Florida
- Artemi Panarin – Rangers
What’s next
From the frying pan and into the fire as the Rangers travel to Tampa to play a home-and-home with the Lightning. The good news is that Tampa has been ravaged by COVID-19 with six players on the Protocol including their two top goalies, Andrei Vasilevskiy and Brian Elliott. Nikita Kucherov is also on Injured Reserve (what else is new?). They also have a tough game against the Panthers on Thursday so they will not be well rested heading into their game with the Rangers.
The game is scheduled for 7 pm on New Year’s Eve. The Blueshirts have won 26 times on New Year’s Eve while losing 23 times and finishing with eight ties.
They really need to come away with one win in the next two games with Tampa, if at all, to disprove the critics who say the Rangers cannot beat the good teams. If they can take advantage of a weakened Lightning team, they could take both games. A mediocre Montreal team took Tampa to overtime before losing on the road on Tuesday.
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