Here we go again as Rangers lose Game 1 in overtime

This one hurt.  The New York Rangers played what Gerard Gallant called “a perfect hockey game” for 40 minutes only to allow the Carolina Hurricanes to tie the score with just 2:23 left in the third period, then lost in overtime.  The Rangers deserved better.

This has to go down as a devastating loss that could be a precursor of what’s to come. After Filip Chytil scored in the first period, the Rangers had several opportunities to build on their one goal lead.   They could have been up 3-0 as Chytil was robbed by Antti Raanta when he couldn’t elevate the puck and Kaapo Kakko missed an open net.

The smothering forecheck and possession game the Hurricanes are known for didn’t surface until the third period, but when it did, the Rangers were ill equipped to handle it  They forgot how they had played the first two periods and it eventually cost them.

Gallant said that he felt that they had “weathered the storm” of the first 10 minutes of the third period, but there was no doubt that the Rangers were sitting on the lead. Going into a defensive shell is playing into the Hurricanes’ hands

The third period was pretty awful. The Hurricanes had more shot attempts (22-9), shots on goal (10-4) and high danger chances (6-3).  Still the Rangers got within two and a half minutes of winning.

The danger of a blown lead

The problem for the Rangers was that when they gave up the tying goal, they had no offensive momentum and that carried into the overtime. All of the momentum belonged to Carolina and the sense was that unless the Rangers could wrest it back, the Hurricanes would win.

The worry now is that the Canes will ride this momentum into the next game and they will be a buzzsaw when the next game starts on Friday.

The kids come through

The kid line was the dominant offensive force for the Rangers and had the three  best scoring chances, cashing in on one.

Filip Chytil scored the Rangers only goal on a fabulous feed from Alexis Lafreniere after Tony DeAngelo gave the puck away.

Chytil had another great chance on a great pass from Kaapo Kakko, but he could elevate the puck over the outstretch pad of Raanta.

The last one is the weirdest one.  Kaapo Kakko had a open net and shot it wide.  But look at the video. is the net off its moorings?  And would that have affected the puck going into the net?  It looks like it didn’t cause the miss, but we’ll never know.

One thing, the angle of the net did not favor the shot.

The shame was that the kids line was on the ice for the overtime goal.  They didn’t deserve that.

Where was the top six?

The Rangers aren’t going anywhere if the top two lines cannot figure out how to play offense while they are playing defense.  True, the Rangers controlled play for the first two periods, but the Zibanejad and Strome lines generated very little offense.  The Hurricanes had 16 scoring chances versus the two lines while the Rangers had six according to Natural Stat Trick.

Zibanejad also had a horrible night on the faceoff dots, losing 11 of 17 draws.  He reverted to his form from the first five games of the Pittsburgh series.  Of the trio, Frank Vatrano played the most spirited game, but they needed more.

The Strome line was not a force either.  Artemi Panarin took his own advice early and took more shots, but as a line, they couldn’t generate much.

The kid line generated 15 shot attempts compared to 11 for the Zibanejad line (5 by Vatrano) and eight shot attempts for the Strome line.

The defense played well

You cannot blame the defense as they were stalwarts throughout the game and had to absorb the loss of Ryan Lindgren for much of the first period.  K’Andre Miller was the best Rangers defenseman and had one great shift when he broke up a break-in by Seth Jarvis, then ended up with a shot on goal at the opposite end.

Anyone who was upset that Miller was too much of a stick checker early in his career, has to realize that his game has grown immeasurably.

Igor was fine

Although he was not overworked in the first two periods, Igor Shesterkin earned his salary in the third period.   He made a number of fine stops including stopping Nino Niederreiter on a breakaway in the third period, with the puck deflecting off Shesterkin and off the crossbar.

On the tying goal, he made the first stop on the shot by Sebastian Aho, but no one picked him up and he put in the rebound.  On the game winner, the puck was deflected off Ryan Lindgren’s stick into the net.

The importance of Game 2

This is where the lessons learned from Round One are important. When the Rangers look at videos they cannot be satisfied with this effort.  No matter what, it was another example of the team not playing a full 60 minutes game.

One encouraging fact is that is in this game the Rangers sustained a high level of excellence for longer than they had in any game in the Round One. They will need to do it again on Friday.  Here is a video recap of the game: