Blue Line Station
Fansided

No need to panic after ugly 6-2 loss to the Blues

By Steve Paulus

Mar 10, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues defenseman Jake Walman (46) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal against the New York Rangers during the second period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 10, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; St. Louis Blues defenseman Jake Walman (46) is congratulated by teammates after scoring a goal against the New York Rangers during the second period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports /
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Mar 10, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (40) looks on in a game against the St. Louis Blues during the second period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports
Mar 10, 2022; St. Louis, Missouri, USA; New York Rangers goaltender Alexandar Georgiev (40) looks on in a game against the St. Louis Blues during the second period at Enterprise Center. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Le-USA TODAY Sports /

Notes on the game

The Rangers record dropped to 36-17-5, but they remain in second place with the tiebreaker over the Penguins (34-15-9).   They have both played the same number of games.

It’s not like the Rangers didn’t have their chances in this game.  Hunt missed the open net and Filip Chytil, Artemi Panarin and Julien Gauthier couldn’t score on breakaways.

The Zibanejad line had a very bad night.  Zibanejad  and Alexis Lafrenière were both -3 on the night and Chris Kreider was -4.

The only bright spot on the night was special teams play.   The power play went two for three and the penalty kill was successful all three four times. Jake Walman did score when the Rangers were going to be called for a penalty and the Blues had six skaters on the ice.

Igor Shesterkin got the first point of his career when he assisted on the power play goal by Ryan Strome in the first period.

Igor Shesterkin was pulled not due to injury only once before in his career, in a game against the Devils in his rookie season.

Down four goals in the third period, Gallant gave the bottom six a lot of ice time and also mixed up his defense pairings, using Adam Fox with Patrik Nemeth and teaming up Ryan Lindgren and Braden Schneider.

It was a bad night for Lindgren and Fox whose plus/minus was -4 for both players.

Both teams had two-man advantages though the Rangers’ lasted only one second. The Rangers were down two men for over a minute. It was the fourth time they have been down two men, but the first time it was for over 10 seconds. They haven’t allowed a goal when down two men.

Jonny Brodzinski shot the puck into the stands when he rushed to clear the puck. It was the fourth time the Rangers have done that and they have killed all four penalties.

Five minutes into the second period, Dryden Hunt fought with Blues defenseman Niko Mikkola.  It was Hunt’s first fighting major and the Rangers’ 15th of the season.

Adam Fox played 17:46, the fewest minutes he has played in a game in over two years. He assisted on both Rangers’ goals, giving him 50 assists, fourth most in the NHL.

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