2020-21 Rangers

Rangers lose 4-2 in Pittsburgh

Posted on by Adam Rotter in 2020-21 Rangers

First Period:

  • Jack Johnson (1) Assists: Julien Gauthier (1), Chris Kreider (2)
  • Jake Guentzel (8) Assists: Sidney Crosby (15)

Second Period:

  • Teddy Blueger (4) (Shorthanded) Assists: Brian Dumoulin (3), Brandon Tanev (6)
  • Kasperi Kapanen (7) Assists: Evan Rodrigues (2), Evgeni Malkin (13)

Third Period:

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  • Ryan Strome (9) (Power Play) Assists: Adam Fox (13), Pavel Buchnevich (13)
  • Sidney Crosby (9) Unassisted

Stats:

Adam Rotter:

  • The game got really exciting in the last couple of minutes, but the Rangers couldn’t get it done. They let the Penguins get some killer goals at the end of periods and a shorthanded goal and it was another game where every mistake ended up in the Ranger net.
  • The Rangers didn’t do enough to make it tough on Tristan Jarry until the third period, but when they did, he met the moment and kept the game from going to OT. A lot will be focused on that, but the Rangers just aren’t creating enough offense, offensive pressure or chances over the full 60 minutes. This was an issue at times before Artemi Panarin took his leave, but it’s only amplified without him as Mika Zibanejad is hit or miss from shift to shift. Chris Kreider, Pavel Buchnevich and Ryan Strome have been hot lately, but the Rangers need more and production from others.
  • They scored on the PP in the third, but their earlier power plays were just awful and, of course, led to the Pens shorthanded goal.
  • I thought Keith Kinkaid was fine and delivered a performance probably equal to what Alex Georgiev would have had with his third game in four nights. Igor Shesterkin skated again today, so maybe he will be ready to go Thursday, otherwise I wouldn’t be shocked if we saw Kinkaid again.
  • So now the Rangers head to Boston and they will need to play more than 20-30 minutes if they want to have a chance. At just about the halfway point of the season, the Rangers are a young, inconsistent team that has been missing their best player for more than two weeks, had their second best player MIA for most of the season and have shown how bright the future could be. The problem is that the future isn’t here and because of that, the playoffs likely won’t be either.