Rangers lose in overtime to the Detroit Red Wings

The Rangers came away with a point in this one, but that’s one less than they should’ve got Sunday night. They faced a Detroit Red Wings team coming off a game Saturday, while they had two days of rest in their beds following Thursday’s 5-2 loss against the Boston Bruins.

Although they received a brilliant performance from Jaroslav Halak in net while jumping out to a 2-0 lead, the Rangers failed to turn it into two points, falling 3-2 in overtime at Madison Square Garden and dropping to 6-4-3 on the season. Here are some takeaways from the game.

KAKKO CONTINUES TO IMPRESS:
Kaapo Kakko led the Rangers Sunday with a game score of 2.42. He also recorded the first goal of the night, where he took advantage of a broken play down low off of a Trouba bomb from the point that hit Dylan Larkin’s skate and pinballed to him, setting up the opportunity, and he didn’t miss it.

Kaapo led the team with five shots on goal and logged 16:02 of ice time. On the season, he has six points in 13 games and seems to be coming into his own lately, with the number of scoring chances and offensive zone time he’s been able to create.

He was rewarded for his efforts and was placed on the first line with Kreider and Zibanejad, later Panarin when Kreider was exiled to the fourth line. The problem over the 21 year-olds first few years in the league has been staying healthy and getting comfortable with his new surroundings. But if he can continuously be effective, Kakko can soon increase his points production and get the gratifying recognition he deserves amongst the fans.
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The right winger led the team with five shots on goal and logged 16:02 of ice time. On the season, he has six points in 13 games and seems to be coming into his own lately, with the number of scoring chances and offensive zone time he’s been able to create.

He was rewarded for his efforts and was placed on the first line with Kreider and Zibanejad, later Panarin when Kreider was exiled to the fourth line. The problem over the 21 year-olds first few years in the league has been staying healthy and getting comfortable with his new surroundings. But if he can continuously be effective, Kakko can soon increase his points production and get the gratifying recognition he deserves amongst the fans.

HALAK’S BEST GAME YET:
He may have denied the notion in his postgame presser because of the loss, but Jaroslav Halak had his best game as a Ranger to date, yet is still looking for his first win after four tries. Detroit had nine shots on goal in their two first-period power plays, yet Halak stopped them all, including a highway robbery on Lucas Raymond on a beautiful tic-tac-toe play from the Red Wings.

Chants of “Jaro” rained down from the Garden crowd early on, as his 14 saves within the first 20 minutes were a key reason why the Rangers led 2-0 going into the locker room.

Halak shouldn’t necessarily be blamed for the goals given up tonight, as mental lapses by the defense saw New York’s play dip in the second, and Detroit took advantage. The first Wings goal came following a neutral zone turnover by Barclay Goodrow. The puck then quickly found the stick of Ben Chiarot, who sent a shot through traffic, redirected by Matt Luff for his maiden NHL goal, cutting the deficit in half.

Later in the frame, a slow line change by New York’s first line and lack of hustle from Alexis Lafreniere and Vincent Trocheck to get back on the play led to a Detroit three on two, and they had two wide open chances right in front of Halak before Pavel Suter buried the third to tie it.

In the third period, the Blueshirts finally tested Detroit goaltender Alex Nedeljkovic, who made several stops to keep the game tied and finished with 27 saves on the night.
But towards the end of regulation, horrendous puck management by New York led to several go-ahead chances for the visitors.
“The old problems of giving up the odd man rush bit us again tonight,” Rangers coach Gerard Gallant said postgame. “We made some good plays in the o-zone, but we seem to gamble too much. Turning pucks over and not enough people were coming back giving up, odd-man rushes.”

However, Halak bailed them out again, including denials on a breakaway by Dominik Kubalik, and a chance in the slot by Filip Hronek, forcing the game to overtime.

A holding penalty on defenseman KeAndre Miller in the extra session put Detroit a man up. They capitalized when David Perron fed Kubalik down low for a backdoor winner, enabling a visibly irate Rangers goaltender.

Halak made 33 saves, including three preceding the overtime winner that got by him, and is now 0-3-1 on the season. In those four tilts, the offense has practically been nonexistent, scoring a total of four goals, and it’s tough to win games when you are just getting one goal of support a night. The veteran may be frustrated, but this was the best he’s looked in the blue and red, one he can take with him as he prepares for a road rematch with Detroit on Thursday.

MIXING AND MATCHING:
With Ryan Lindgren out, the question was, what adjustments would Gerard Gallant make to the top four on defense? Well, sliding in next to Jacob Trouba on the second line was Zac Jones, while Libor Hajek, taking the place of Ryan Reaves, who was a healthy scratch, played on the fourth line next to Braiden Schneider.

On the offensive side, Filip Chytil returned from injury and took his spot on line three between Jimmy Vesey and Barclay Goodrow.
Jones had 12:39 of ice time with two blocks but was double-shifted by Adam Fox in the third period, as defensive coordinator Gord Murphy shortened his bench with the game on the line. Fox logged 29:38 of ice time and had two blocks, two takeaways, a takeaway, a penalty, and an assist on the Mika Zibanejad power-play goal that made it 2-0 Rangers in the first period.

Seeking a jolt after the  horrid second period, Gallant juggled the lines a bit and demoted Chris Kreider to the fourth line, saying afterward, “He deserved to be where he was at.”
The 31-year-old has 10 points in 13 games but has struggled this season, especially at five on five after registering 52 goals last season.

Gallant added to his answer on Kreider, “He wasn’t alone,” but he sure was Sunday’s scapegoat.
The move seemed to have worked because Kreider, Zibanejad, and Fox were the three on for the overtime, but the demotion won’t soon go lost on Kreider, the media, and the fans.
Yes, it’s hard to come down on the guy who, just last Tuesday, scored the OT winner to defeat the Flyers and had an assist on Sunday. But overall, the Rangers didn’t like what they saw from him and took action.

That’s not to say this is a permanent switch, but it was surprising to see it play out that way. New York didn’t lose Sunday night due to line pairings or lack of depth but because of poor player execution, and as captain Jacob Trouba said, “It takes a full game. You can’t play two periods in this league”.