The Edmonton Oilers defeated the New York Rangers 3-1 at Madison Square Garden on Sunday.
Edmonton's goaltender Stuart Skinner put up a legendary perfomance featuring 21 saves, including a breakaway saving play from budding forward Matt Rempe showing how powerful he can be for the Rangers. New York Head Coach Peter Laviolette said the MSG crowd likely still found enjoyment watching the loss.
"I thought it was a tight hockey game, a good hockey game going into the third period," Peter Laviolette said. "They scored one. We pressured, we had lots of chances, lots of look, couldn't get the next one to fall."
Here's three key takeaways from New York's latest loss.
1. Igor Shesterkin Gets Outplayed
Goaltender Igor Shesterkin started on back-to-back nights for the fifth time in his career. While some say he played decent, goaltending mistakes costed the Rangers the win. Edmonton's Connor McDavid sealed the win with a late wrist shot past Shesterkin. Swedish right wing Viktor Arvidsson scored as well when his shot deflected off Zac Jones' stick. Unfortunately for Shesterkin, fans felt that two of these three goals were easily stoppable.
The New York Rangers' goaltender recently signed an eight-year, $92 million contract in December of 2024.
2. Will Cuylle's Goal
Will Cuylle, one of the nearest and dearest to the Rangers' fanbase, scorewd his first goal in seven games. Cuylle drove hard to the net to clean up a lose puck and tie the game at one, breathing life into the crowd at MSG early in the second period. This was his 18th goal of the year. He is now tied for third most goals on the Rangers as nears his first career 20-goal year in the league.
3. Poor Power Play
Once again, the Rangers power play had another rough showing. The Blueshirts were 0-for-3 on the night, and have now converted on just one of their past 21 attempts. What used to be the Rangers saving grace the past few seasons is now one of their fatal flaws. They now stand at No. 25 in the league regarding this aspect at 18.6 percent.
Up Next
Prior to play against the Oilers — the Rangers won two crucial games against the Minnesota Wild and Columbus Blue Jackets on the road. After this latest loss the Rangers still hold their lead in the second wild-card spot in the Eastern Conference. However, the Montreal Canadiens are now just one put shy of tying things up.