Last night, the Rangers had a chance to prove to themselves and their fanbase that they would climb out of this early season phase of inconsistency and sloppy play. Instead, they only stoked those growing fears as they blew a late-goal lead and lost to the Ottawa Senators 3-2 in OT.
What adds to the frustration is not only are the Rangers giving away precious points that they need to keep pace in the standings, but they are also losing in the cruelest of ways. Last night, it was Jacob Trouba (having a rough season so far in the first year of his captaincy) again failing to clear a puck out of the defensive zone, leading to a Brady Tkachuk deflection that tied the score at 2 with only 49 seconds left.
If that wasn’t bad enough, in OT, the Rangers first failed to capitalize on a Mika Zibanejad breakaway that could have salvaged the night. After that, at the very least, it appeared they would get that chance in the shootout. Yet, they again suffered sloppy execution in the offensive zone by Adam Fox, which led to Brady Tkachuk scoring the game-winner on a soft goal through Igor’s pads. It slightly marred what had previously been an excellent performance by Shesterkin for the game.
The outcome was extra deflating, considering many factors during the game curried the Rangers’ way. One of these factors included what seems to be a recent growing trend with the team. An Ottawa shot saw the puck squeak through Igor’s pads, only to be swept away from the goal line at the last second by Libor Hajek’s stick. However, that stroke of luck wasn’t even the most encouraging sign of the period. Vitali Kravtsov (who played well all night) followed up a blocked shot into Travis Hamonic’s neck (he would be ok) with a beautiful snipe past Talbot on the far side. Kravtsov displayed the finishing acumen that the Rangers sorely lack, and decided to put him on the second line look very wise.
Despite that, it failed to spark the offense as Ottawa dictated most of the play in the second period. Again, the Rangers briefly benefitted from good fortune as what appeared to be the tying goal was overturned on a successful offsides challenge. Unfortunately, that sigh of relief would be short-lived as the Rangers took a penalty, and Tim Stutzle took advantage of chaos around the net to tie the game up at 1. The Rangers’ offense didn’t show much fight in the second, but a fight was provided by an intense tilt between Trouba and Tkachuk, with a slight advantage going to the Rangers captain.
The Rangers need wins in the standings, though, not with their fists, and a dirty goal by Mika Zibanejad with 13:57 (after another blocked shot of a Senators’ face) seemed to put them on their way to victory. They even survived another scary moment when a puck under Igor’s pads that clearly crossed the goal line was disallowed since Shesterkin was correctly deemed to be pushed in by a Senators stick.
All this good fortune was soon to run out, though. Brady Tkachuk might have lost his earlier battle but won the proverbial war with both the tying tally off a deflection and the game-winner in OT with only 18 seconds left in the extra frame.
The Rangers get the point but again exhibited all the bad habits that have accompanied this troubling level of play. All were on display, including failure to score, failure to execute, and an inability to hold any lead. It might be too harsh to say this team has lost their “no quit” attitude, but they surely haven’t shown the fortitude so far this season to adopt it as their mantra.
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RANGERS NOT FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS..GALLANT NEEDS SUM FIRE IN LOCKER ROOM…LGR..💪🏿💪💯