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Game 43: Rangers fall 4-2 to Toronto after 'bye'-week, @ Montreal tonight |
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On a night where emotions were high and the cosmos should have aligned for New York to earn a win, they spit the bit. A pair of weak goals against while also totally outplayed on special teams both contributed mightily to a 4-2 loss to Toronto. A road game less 24 hours later is the Rangers reward.
A stirring pre-game ceremony to honor Detective Steven McDonagh, during which a moment of cheers was used instead of silence should have had the Rangers flying to start the contest. That was far from the case. Less than five minutes in, New York failed in several chances to get the puck out of the zone on the boards near the blue line. The end result was a weak goal through the five-hole allowed by Henrik Lundqvist from William Nylander. It didn't get better from there.
The Maple Leafs got the first of their two power play goals with 2:32 left in the first. Ryan McDonagh was unable to get any power on his pass up the boards. Toronto regained possession and got it low. JVR used a small push on Dan Girardi's back to get some space, the Girardi went down to his knees to block a pass, missing badly. Mitch Marner put a perfect pass across the goal crease and JVR put it home for Toronto's 7th PP in the last four games.
Chris Kreider cut the lead to one, putting one in after second effort from his knees 9:05 into the second period. If New York had kept it there, they might have had a shot. In fact, it was almost evened up on the PP but McDonagh hit the post far side on a power play. With 14:27 gone in the frame, a simple shot from Connor Brown hit off the stick of McDonagh, changing direction, beating Lundqvist. McDonagh's stick was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but it was a killer.
Toronto upped the lead to 4-1 with another PPG. New York really missed Marc Staal on the penalty kill yesterday. A great save on Tyler Bozak by Lundqvist went for naught, as Kevin Hayes was caught in no-man's land in front and Connor Carrick was wide open to put home the rebound. This goal came as a direct result on a face-off win, where Toronto dominated, winning 61% of draws. J.T. Miller made it 4-2 with 85 seconds left, the one real positive of that was Pavel Buchnevich notching the assist. If you saw Miller's face, he really didn't care about the goal, focusing on the score.
Tonight. Antti Rant gets the nod, as the Bell Center is still Lundqvist's house of horrors. In addition, Buchnevich, who wasn't supposed to play, will be in the lineup. He saw just 10:43 on TOI and the trainer's have said he can go, so AV is dressing him. Lines to be revealed in warm-ups, meaning AV is using the blender or magic-8 ball again.
Yesterday, you could say rust beat rest, if there is a loss tonight, fatigue better not be the excuse.
New York Rangers Blogger • 
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