First Period:
- Kyle Palmieri (5) (Power Play) Assists: Zach Parise (2), Ryan Pulock (5)
- Filip Chytil (3) Assists: K’Andre Miller (4), Adam Fox (9)
Second Period:
- Chris Kreider (5) (Power Play) Assists: Artemi Panarin (13), Vincent Trocheck (6)
- Vincent Trocheck (5) (Power Play) Assists: Artemi Panarin (14), Mika Zibanejad (9)
Third Period:
Ad
- Adam Pelech (1) Assists: Kyle Palmieri (3), Zach Parise (3)
- Brock Nelson (6) (Power Play) Assists: Noah Dobson (6), Mathew Barzal (15)
- Anders Lee (8) Assists: Alexander Romanov (4)
Stats:
- I don’t even really know what to say after this. The Rangers were the better team for most of the game, they were even the better team for most of the third period with a few excellent chances, but they lost.
- They did miss the trip on Kakko on what was the Game Winning Goal, but they also missed an icing on the Rangers that forced a faceoff and then Lafreniere was clipped and then Chris Kreider scored early in the second. They aren’t exactly the same because there were a lot more plays between the missed icing and the goal, but the refs sure did miss a pretty easy to see trip…and it cost the Rangers.
- Defensively the Rangers just seem like a mess. Guys are left open, guys aren’t taking the body and Igor Shesterkin isn’t there to bail them out. I don’t know what blame, if any, should go to Shesterkin, but you just get the feeling that last season he stops some of those goals. Shesterkin seems like he’s trying to do too much to cover up for some of these defensive lapses. Whatever it is, he isn’t superhuman so far this year and it is costing the Rangers.
- This is just a demoralizing loss. There were positives in this game, but they don’t matter. This team can’t defend a lead, they still struggle to score at 5-on-5 and every defensive lapse seems to end up in their net. I don’t know if the weight of expectations has been weighing on them through the first 14 games, but they look and play like a team that is more likely to be battling for a Wild Card spot instead of battling for the division. They played well enough to win and probably deserved to win, but they didn’t and the Rangers showed last year that it doesn’t matter how you get there or how well you play, the win is all that matters.
- Hopefully, this is rock bottom. Hopefully, the loss to Boston and two straight games of blowing two-goal leads and allowing three to your biggest rival in the third period is the bottom for this team. I don’t know if it is the bottom, but just because it might be the bottom doesn’t mean that they are going to start winning or heading in the right direction. They could stay at the bottom…but they sure seem too talented for that to be the case.
- They hit the road now for a rematch with the Red Wings on Thursday, a trip to Nashville on Saturday, Arizona at MSG on Sunday and then they head to the West Coast to visit Seattle and the three California teams.