New York Rangers taste defeat in St Louis as Blues win inspired by Jordan Kyrou hat trick
The New York Rangers went into this game without Mika Zibanejad. An illness ruled him out as he was listed as a late scratch so with the Blueshirts missing such a prominent part of the roster, a win in a game like this was always going to be an uphill task. Alas, the Rangers were unable to keep up with the Blues.
Ryan Lindgren and Adam Fox would move the puck between themselves at the point before finding Will Cuylle in the high slot. Cuylle dropped it back to Lindgren allowing Fox to walk up and shoot. His shot was saved but the rebound bounced out to Barclay Goodrow. Goodrow's shot was parried into the path of Fox who followed his inital shot into the slow, and he deposits the loose change, giving the Rangers an early 1-0 lead.
On the rush, Pavel Buchnevich would get it up to Robert Thomas. Thomas made a move and killed time, allowing his linemates to join the rush before passing the puck across the ice and onto the blade of Jordan Kyrou. Kyrou's shot would get past Igor Shesterkin, and the Rangers lead was gone with the Blues tying goal. Now, the Rangers had to focus on getting the next goal in the game.
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Kyrou would lead the Blues charge into the offensive zone as he crosses the blueline on the powerplay and dishes it back to Thomas. Thomas plays a no look pass as he fakes a shot over to Buchnevich. Buchnevuch also fakes a shot but gets it just wide and onto the tape of Kyrou, who would tip the puck home to give the Blues their first lead of the night and force the Rangers to start chasing a game they had been dominating.
St Louis would win a face off back to Scott Perunovich. He got it over to Brandon Saad in the slot, before Brayden Schenn would get the puck and find his shot stopped. Saad would get the rebound and fire it into the top corner. Another powerplay goal to force the Rangers deep into the hole. To avoid back to back defeats from this point, the Blueshirts absolutely had to get the next goal in the game.
The dagger would come when Jordan Kyrou completed his hat trick. Sustained offensive zone pressure lead to a turnover in the offensive zone from the Rangers, and Kyrou was sprung on a breakaway behind the Rangers defense. Shesterkin was unable to bail the Rangers out as he was beaten to the glove side, and the 4-1 Blues lead seemed to feel like it would hold up against the Rangers onslaught.
New York's powerplay encouraged some life in the team. A shot from Artemi Panarin forced Jordan Binnington into an awkward position, and he fell over allowing Vincent Trocheck to gather the puck and deposit it into the top of the net, gettint the second Ranger goal of the game, and suddenly there was life in the Rangers roster. A big goal in the context of this game, but more were needed if they were to get the win tonight.
Buchnevich would hit the empty net from the red line, and he scores to haunt his former club as the Rangers fall to 8-8-1 in their last 17 games. It's been a very difficult spell for Buchnevich, but he gets his 13th goal of the season as the Rangers come up short yet again and lose back-to-back games. That was a strong game, but the Rangers couldn't solve Binnington in the Blues net.