The New York Rangers' overall performance was disappointing, as they dropped their first game of the season to the Utah Hockey Club. New York could not deal with the scoring power of the newest NHL team, which, mixed with some controversy and a few defensive mistakes, caused the Rangers to be beaten on the night.
It would be the Utah Hockey Club that broke the ice in this one. A beautiful pass from Clayton Keller left Barrett Hayton completely alone with Igor Shesterkin. As fantastic as Igor is, he can't stop that as Hayton makes a move and roofs it as the Blueshirts give up their first goal of the season. There was some poor team defense here, as the Rangers seemed to struggle out of the gate after the player introductions.
It wouldn't be long until the Rangers returned it via the Breadman. Alexis Lafreniere would pick the puck up the neutral zone and into the Utah end. A drop pass just before the defenders allows Artemi Panarin, who walked onto one and wire it home from inside the line, to tie the game up at one. Between the legs of the defender, it beat Ingram on the glove side.
Utah would retake the lead in the second period. A puck into the Rangers zone allowed the Hockey Club to race onto it. It bounced around a bit, but the deadly mistake came from Alexis Lafreniere turning off in his zone, and Jack McBain was able to force the puck in at the near post to restore Utah's lead. That line has its defensive lapses, costing the team a goal here. That needs to improve going forward.
New York would tie it up shortly after on the powerplay. A dumb decision from Kevin Stenlund running into Igor Shesterkin sent the Rangers to the power play. After a few good looks, Utah left Artemi Panarin alone on the boards to the left of the goal. Panarin's able to hit the pipe on the way in, and the Rangers get themselves back on par in this game. A gorgeous shot gives the Breadman his second of the game.
New York thought they had their first lead of the night when Victor Mancini lashed a snipe from the blue line that found the back of the net. However, Matt Rempe's deemed to be interfering with Connor Ingram had it ruled out. Peter Laviolette disagreed with it and sent it to Toronto on a challenge, but Rempe's in the crease, and then Wes McCauley says he stopped Ingram from making the save. It's a tough call, but I get why Lavi challenged it.
After the failed challenge, the Rangers were shorthanded, but Kreider drew a holding call from Ingram, so we went to four-on-four, where a mistake let Utah retake the lead. K'Andre Miller turns the puck behind the net, allowing Utah to work it over to Clayton Keller, who is alone with Igor. Igor's unable to make the save, and the Rangers trail again.
Utah would tally again before the period's halfway point off a really poor angle shot. Kevin Stenlund is below the dot in the faceoff circle and beats Igor at the near post, and the Rangers are down by multiple goals for the first time tonight. This Utah team has some firepower, but that is a poor goal to give up from Shesterkin—a potential backbreaker in this game.
With that potential backbreaker, the ghosts of MSG give the Rangers the lottery numbers. K'Andre Miller flings the puck into the zone along the boards. It goes up and around the glass before bouncing off a weird angle and bouncing into the net. Ingram had departed to play the puck behind the net, and it trickled in. Don't ask how just how many. It's a one-goal game once more.
Following that, a couple of fights broke out. Adam Edstrom damaged McBain to the point of some perfuse bleeding, but that was a secondary fight due to Sam Carrick dropping the gloves with Kesselring. Fights, goals, controversial decisions, weird bounces? Yup, it's hockey season at Madison Square Garden. It was an eventful second period, to say the very least.
Another controversial call would see the Rangers shorthanded when Will Cuylle raced to a puck. He got into a physical brawl with a Utah defenseman before running through the netminder Ingram. It was deemed goaltender interference, but it was another shaky call in this game. That would run into a high-sticking call on Miller, and 20% of the Rangers bench was unavailable. It gave Utah 51 seconds of a 5-on-3. Utah wouldn't score on that, but they would in the second powerplay as Dylan Guenther to restore their 2-goal lead.
New York would strike back with two minutes to go in the second period. Braden Schneider would get all the time in the world at the blue line, so he cuts into the middle on his forehand since he's playing on the left as a right-handed shot, and his drive to the net allows him to pick the near side on Ingram, and we have a 5-4 game. This was all before the second intermission, as a reminder. It was one of the most entertaining games of the season so far.
After pressuring the entire third period, the Utah dam would break. Eventually, the third line would pin Utah in their zone. Kakko found a pass in front of Will Cuylle, who was stopped, but the rebound bounced to Fox. Who cares whether Fox's shot hit Cuylle on its way in? The Rangers tied it up. An eventful game had seen five goals with a certainty of at least one more.
In overtime, there would be another goal. Clayton Keller would end the game for Utah as he was left alone to walk in and backhand it up over the shoulder of Igor. It was in and out so quickly that some players didn't see it, but there were no arguments from Shesterkin. There was a great fightback from the Rangers to get a point, but they could not win their home opener. They drop to 1-0-1 this season.