Rangers blow lead and lose 3-2 on Lundqvist’s big night

About the game

The Rangers came out ready to play (for a change) and did an excellent job keeping the Wild from getting good shots.  They couldn’t take advantage of an early Wild penalty, but the Rangers kept the rink tilted and it finally paid off when Barclay Goodrow scored off a fantastic passing play from Ryan Strome to Jacob Trouba who found Goodrow wide open.  Unlike the Columbus game, he didn’t miss the open net and scored his 10th goal.

The Rangers kept the pressure on and then it was Chris Kreider’s turn, scoring after a Wild icing that led to a faceoff in the Minnesota zone.  Mika Zibanejad won the faceoff cleanly and got it to Jacob Trouba who blasted a slap shot.  Cam Talbot made the stop, but the puck bounced off him and Kreider was able to put it under the Minnesota goalie.  Kreider actually shot the puck between his legs as he was under pressure from Jordie Benn.

The Rangers had to kill off a late penalty to Jonny Brodzinski, but had little difficulty doing it, holding the Wild without a shot. The Rangers ended the period with a 12-5 shot advantage though shot attempts at 5v5 were even.  The Rangers had three high danger chances to only one for Minnesota.

Of course, the Rangers cannot bear prosperity and as good as they were in the first period, they were bad in the second.   It turned into the Igor Shesterkin show, highlighted by a penalty shot that he stopped after Braden Schneider took Frederick Gaudreau down on a breakaway.

The Wild were relentless, especially their top line and 12 minutes in, Kevin Fiala got them on the board. It was sloppy play as Barclay Goodrow took off on a break, but he lost the puck and the Wild transitioned into the Rangers zone and had the manpower advantage for the goal.   In some really bad timing, 30 seconds after the goal, Alexis Lafrenière took a penalty for hitting Ryan Hartman  and of course, it was Mats Zuccarello who scored the tying goal on the power play.

After the goals it got a little chippy with Trouba mixing it up a bit with Jordan Greenway.  The Rangers weren’t into the game emotionally and it showed.

It was a very ugly period totally dominated by Minnesota.  They ended up with 29 shot attempts to 11 for the Rangers including nine high danger scoring chances for the Wild compared to two for New York.

While you would expect the Rangers to come out and play hard in the third period, they didn’t do much even with a power play.  The only goal came from Frederick Gaudreau who made up for penalty shot miss by streaking in off a Ranger turnover and whipping the puck past Shesterkin a goal he would probably want back.

The Rangers pulled Shesterkin and launched a furious attackin the final minute and with a second left in the game they appeared to tie the score.  The referee wasted no time in disallowing the goal, saying that Cam Talbot had been pushed into the net.  They looked at the video and confirmed the call.

It was the right call.  Ryan Strome’s stick did force Cam Talbot’s pad to open up allowing Mika Zibanejad to poke the puck in.  The Rangers were irate and the fans were berserk, but it was too little too late.   After the game Gerard  Gallant said it was a tough call saying, “It’s a 50-50 call. Did his stick touch the pad and push it in?  Yeah. So, I’m hoping for that call, cause your guys are battling, they’re not trying to push the pad in, but I understand the call.”

Here’s a video recap of the game:

Are the Rangers in their first slump of the season?  It’s tough to tell. They are banged up a bit and are heading into a two week respite which they certainly use.  If they can beat Seattle on Sunday they will be set for a touch match up with the Florida Panthers on Tuesday.  But they have to beat Seattle.