First Period:
- T.J. Oshie (13) (Power Play) Assists: Erik Gustafsson (29), Evgeny Kuznetsov (37)
- Barclay Goodrow (10) Assists: Tyler Motte (7)
Second Period:
- T.J. Oshie (14) Assists: Dylan Strome (26), Erik Gustafsson (30)
- Tom Wilson (5) Assists: Trevor van Riemsdyk (11), Alex Ovechkin (23)
- Sonny Milano (9) Assists: Evgeny Kuznetsov (38), T.J. Oshie (10)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov (10) Assists: Nicolas Aube-Kubel (6), Martin Fehervary (8)
Third Period:
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- Chris Kreider (25) (Power Play) Assists: Adam Fox (44), Mika Zibanejad (31)
- Evgeny Kuznetsov (11) Assists: Alex Ovechkin (24), Tom Wilson (2)
- Kaapo Kakko (12) Assists: Chris Kreider (16), Mika Zibanejad (32)
Stats:
- This looked like an early season, pre-helmet throw/comeback against St. Louis game. The Rangers were sloppy, had no structure, gave up odd-man rush after odd-man rush and had little to no impactful offense. Plus the PP squandered a big opportunity in the first period and Igor Shesterkin was left out to dry.
- With Shesterkin, the expectations he set after last season were so high that even when he gets hung out to try or has very little chance of making a save, it feels like he should make it. There is no doubt that the defense in front of him and the overall coverage has been shoddy at best, but you just expect him to make all the hard saves and he just isn’t doing it.
- I’d expect that Jaro Halak will start tomorrow, even after coming in for the third period, and that they will try again to get Shesterkin back on track for Wednesday.
- And yet, the actual game and this performance seems secondary, maybe even tertiary to everything else going on around the team and Patrick Kane. It’s a really bad performance and their fourth straight loss, but the focus is on later this week when Patrick Kane comes to town.
- The issue is that while Kane should help them start scoring again, Kane is not going to be a major help defensively and their overall team defense seems to be their biggest issue again.
- The biggest takeaway from this game though is the status of Ryan Lindgren as his absence, like it did in the playoffs, showed how important he is. If the Rangers are going to be without Lindgren for any amount of time that will be a massive blow.
- It’s possible that tomorrow will be the last game they play without Patrick Kane and Kane could come to NY ahead of the possible trade on Wednesday and then play Wednesday night.