Rare stinker loss for the Rangers vs Canucks

Notes on the game

• The Rangers record is 33-15-5 and with Carolina and Pittsburgh winning, there is some space between the teams in the Metropolitan Division. Carolina has 78 points, the Pens have 74 and the Rangers have 71 with two games in hand on Pittsburgh.  They still have a six point lead over the Washington Capitals.
• This is only the third time that they have lost two games in a row in regulation. They have not lost three in a row in regulation this season.
• The game was really lost on special teams.  Vancouver had one power play and scored.  The Rangers were stopped three times by the team with the worst penalty kill in the NHL.  Demko stopped five shots during the penalty kill and the Rangers had five high danger scoring chances.
• The Rangers have failed to score on the power play for three straight games for only the third time this season. How important is the PP?  When they score a power play goal, their record is 21-4-4.  When they have not scored they are 12-11-1.
• J.T. Miller made his presence felt, assisting on both Vancouver first period goals.
• The Rangers who got on the scoreboard were the usual suspects: Zibanejad, Panarin, Strome, Lafrenière and Fox.  The lack of secondary scoring continues to haunt this team.
• Chris Kreider is getting snakebit.  He had eight shots on goal and five high danger chances.  He had six shots against Pittsburgh Saturday as well.  That means a total of 14 shots over the weekend.  If two of those pucks go in the net, we have a very different outcome.
• Gallant shook up the lines in the third period when the game was out of reach. He put Ryan Reaves on the line with Strome and Panarin and he gave the kids more ice time.
• One thing is becoming obvious with Alexandar Georgiev.  He’s not very good as a spot starter.  Earlier this season he played in six of eight games as the number one starter and allowed 12 goals with a .940 Sv%.  When he played four consecutive games later with Shesterkin out on the COVID protocol he allowed nine goals and a .930 Sv%. .  When Shesterkin took on most of the workload his starts became more sporadic. Georgiev didn’t play in 10 days and allowed six goals in his one start (.829 Sv%).  Then he was off for a week and allowed four goals (.778 Sv%).  This game marked a month since his last start and he allowed four goals with a save percentage of .879.
• The Rangers finished their season series against Vancouver with a 0-1-1 record. They haven’t won a season series against the Canucks since 2017-18.
• The Rangers record against the Pacific Division is 7-5-3, getting 17 of a possible 30 points.  They have one more game with a Pacific Division team, versus Anaheim on March 15.
• Filip Chytil and Patrik Nemeth were healthy scratches as Gallant went with the lineup that he thought played well against Washington and Pittsburgh.  We’ll see if he changes it up against St. Louis.

My 3 Rangers stars

1. Alexis Lafrenière is becoming an offensive force for the Rangers.  His third period goal jump started the team’s attempted comeback.  It was a laser of a shot and he is much more comfortable on the top line.
2. Ryan Reaves was moved up to the Strome line and his physical play contributed to the Rangers’ third period revival.  He threw the body with abandon, second on the team with six hits.
3. Chris Kreider didn’t score, but it wasn’t for lack of trying.  He as repeatedly thwarted by Thatcher Demko on excellent scoring chances.  If Kreider keeps playing like this, he will hit the 50 goal mark.

The official 3 stars

1. Thatcher Demko – Canucks
2. Matthew Highmore – Canucks
3. Tyler Myers – Canucks

What’s next

The Rangers have a day off, then return to practice on Tuesday in preparation for Wednesday’s game against the St. Louis Blues at the Garden.   The game is a 7:30p start and will be nationally televised on TNT.

They then play the Devils at Madison Square Garden on Friday before they head to Winnipeg for the last long road trip of the season.