This one hurt as Rangers drop shootout loss to Red Wings

About the game

That early Detroit goal came just 2:18 into the first period and it was the result of a bad bounce.  Troy Stecher took the shot and it was headed wide of the net until Zac Jones deflected it right into the Rangers net past Igor Shesterkin.   The Ranger goalie had no chance.

The Rangers were pretty badly outplayed the first half of the period and despite picking up their play, taking two penalties didn’t help their cause. The Red Wings had the first nine shot attempts and the first four shots on goal.  The Rangers finally had a good shift eight minutes into the period and they followed with several excellent scoring chances by Lafrenière and Zibanejad.

The Blueshirts held the 1-0 deficit going into the second period.  They actually ended up with more high danger scoring chances despite being outshot 11-8.

The Rangers were much better in the second period and had three scoring opportunities on one shift when Strome shot a point blank shot wide and Goodrow and Panarin were stopped by Greiss.

On the next shift, K’Andre Miller finally got the Rangers on the scoreboard at the 12:18 mark with an outstanding offensive move.

Barclay Goodrow won the offensive zone draw after an icing and Miller swept into the zone, around the net and used his long reach to score on the wraparound.

With the crowd into the game the Rangers promptly gave the goal right back when Dylan Larkin whipped a shot past Shesterkin. It was another odd bounce as it came off a shot by Danny DeKeyser that missed the net, but hit the boards and bounced right to Larkin who as perched on on the left side of the Rangers goalie.

You could feel the goal coming as it was scored on a lengthy shift in the Rangers’ zone. The Rangers got caught running around and Kreider lost a board battle when he had a chance to clear. The goal came just ninety seconds after the Miller goal.

So the Rangers were faced with another one goal deficit starting the third period.  To their credit, they had to kill a penalty at 9:29 when Dryden Hunt took an additional two minutes after he took on Givani Smith who had leveled Julien Gauthier from behind.  It  could easily have been called a charging penalty, but it ended up as a Detroit power play.  It worked out for the Blueshirts when Robby Fabbri tripped Adam Fox behind the Rangers net, negating the penalty.

The Ranger got the man advantage after 18 seconds and made short work of the power play. After 26 seconds with the extra player, it was a Mika Zibanejad one-timer on a set up from Adam Fox and Artemi Panarin.

The teams exchanged chances before going to overtime. The OT was relatively calm until the last two minutes when both teams had outstanding chances. Greiss stopped Zibanejad and Shesterkin stopped Tyler Bertuzzi.  With 20 seconds left Panarin had a breakaway but was stopped by Dylan Larkin who made the defensive play.

The shootout went six rounds. Lucas Raymong and Zibanejad were the first two shooters and they both scored. Then Shesterkin stopped Larkin, Adam Erne, Tyler Bertuzzi and Sam Gagner while Greiss did the same to Panarin, Fox, and Lafrenière.   Ryan Strome was the fifth shooter for the Rangers and Greiss tried a poke check, but missed and Strome had a wide open net to shoot into with Greiss prone on the ice and out of the play.  Strome shot the puck wide.

Pius Suter then beat Shesterkin and Filip Chyil  was stopped by Greiss and the Rangers lost a point that they should have had.

Here is a full video recap of the game.

Despite not playing well, the Rangers could and should have won this game.  They hit two posts and Greiss played out of his mind.  Of course, the Strome missed shootout attempt will be something Ranger fans won’t forget for a while.

The Blueshirts have slipped into a stretch of .500 hockey and with games coming up with Washington and Pittsburgh, they need to get their game back.