This one hurt as Rangers drop shootout loss to Red Wings

For the second straight game, the New York Rangers came from behind to tie a game in the third period.  After a thrilling overtime, the game went to a shootout, but there were no Blueshirts heroics this night.  In fact, in the shootout, Ryan Strome had the win on his stick and inexplicably missed a wide open net.

This will not go into the record books as a good effort by the Rangers.  They were outplayed for long periods by an energetic Red Wings team.  They certainly has their chances, but they hit two posts and Detroit goalie Thomas Greiss played like an all star in stopping 37 of 39 shots.

For the second straight game, the power play was kept off the ice until late in the third period.  It saved them as they were able to tie the score with less than nine minutes left.

It was a letdown from the Boston game.  As tightly defended as that game was, this one was sloppy for both teams.  Numerous neutral zone turnovers resulted in odd man rushes for Detroit.

Coach Gerard Gallant was not pleased.  “The first half we came out real flat obviously and Detroit took it too us pretty good.  It should have been more than 1-0 but Shesty played real good.” Gallant continued, “The second half we played good enough to get back in.  We probably got the one point that we deserved, but no more.”

The good news is the Blueshirts have allowed only 10 goals in their last five games.  The problem is that they have scored only 13 with just eight at even strength.

It’s games like this that will convince Chris Drury that he needs to improve secondary scoring.  They’ve got the defense, but look at these numbers.  In the 23 games since December 8 here’s the scoring for the players currently on the bottom six:  Chytil 3, Reaves 2, Gauthier 2, McKegg 1, Rooney 0, Hunt 0.   In the same 23 games, Chris Kreider by himself scored 16 goals compared to eight for this sextet.

After the game, Adam Fox was more resigned to the result and happy to get the one point. “You always want to come away with two points, but one point is better than none…it was just one of those games.”

The team still looks hung over from their two week vacation. It’s worth noting that the Red Wings played four times while the Rangers were off. The Rangers have been guilty of slow starts all season and they need to fix that.  As Fox said, it’s difficult to play from behind and although the Rangers are second in the NHL in games won after trailing first with 12, they have allowed the opposition to score first in 25 games.  Consider that they are 19-3-2 when scoring first.