First Period:
- Alexis Lafreniere (3) Assists: Adam Fox (18), Ryan Lindgren (4)
Second Period:
- Chris Kreider (10) Assists: Ryan Lindgren (5), Artemi Panarin (19)
- Julien Gauthier (4) Assists: Ryan Carpenter (2), Sammy Blais (4)
Third Period:
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- Evan Bouchard (1) (Power Play) Assists: Jesse Puljujarvi (4), Ryan McLeod (3)
- Evan Bouchard (2) Assists: Warren Foegele (2), Ryan McLeod (4)
- Dylan Holloway (1) Assists: Ryan McLeod (5)
- Leon Draisaitl (12) (Power Play) Assists: Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (13), Connor McDavid (20)
Stats:
- The Rangers spent most of last season finding ways to win games that they should have lost. For most of this season so far it has been the opposite and the Rangers have blown leads and let games that they should have won get away.
- The Rangers had a pretty good first period, a better second period after the first few minutes and went into the third period with a 3-0 lead. You expect the Oilers, with their offensive firepower, to push in the third, what you don’t expect is the Rangers to feed into that push, make it easier for the Oilers with turnovers and penalties and let the game get away from them.
- You could also say that a 3-0 lead in the third period with the Vezina Trophy winner should be enough to win, and it should, but other than the tying goal, which is probably one he wants back, he had no help, was screened and left out to dry.
- Blowing a 3-0 lead in the third period is nearly inexcusable, but blowing a 3-0 lead to the Oilers where McDavid and Draisaitl don’t factor into the goals until the last one is absolutely inexcusable. It’s one thing to blow a lead to two of the best players in the world and it’s another to blow a lead to two players scoring their first goals of the season. For the most part the Rangers defended McDavid well and limited his chances, but in the end, they still lost.
- It seemed like today was going to be the day where goal droughts were broken and good feelings would be had, but Alexis Lafreniere breaking his goal drought is negated by the penalty he took that led to the winner. Artemi Panarin was having a nice first two periods and seemed to score, but it was called back for offside.
- Maybe it was because of Igor Shesterkin, the power play or the fact that they seemed to score at will, but last year the Rangers played with a certain amount of confidence and belief that they would ultimately prevail and come away with two points. This year the Rangers seem to really be lacking in team confidence, their ability to close out games and come away with two points. Every time it seems like they are turning the corner and starting to play a, mostly, consistent game, they end up with a game like today, leaving points on the table and questions about how good they can ultimately be.
- It doesn’t get any easier on Monday with the Devils coming to town. The Devils have been giving the Rangers fits the last few years and that was before they were getting saves and winning games. We’ll see how it turns out on Monday, but right now the Devils are looking like a team that believes they are going to win every night.