The Rangers lost 7-4 to the Devils on Tuesday. Up 2-0 after a solid first period. New York collapsed in the second due to a myriad of missed assignments, turnovers and poor defensive play. The Devils scored a pair of goals in a 1:18 and another duo in 33 seconds, finishing with five overall in the frame. A mild comeback went for naught in the third with some stat padding taking place late. The Blueshirts meet the Penguins on Friday.
Game recap:
A few thoughts: 1) Game - New York sure looked good in the opening frame. Alexis Lafreniere - remember that name - had a strong shift leading to a Mika Zibanejad goal. Later, Andrew Copp won a faceoff, leading to Adam Fox scoring top shelf. All seemed right with the world, then the bottom dropped out.
In the second, New York’s structure went out the window and New Jersey’s ability to counter attack and speed were on full display. Wave after wave upon New Jersey players came down the ice. The first missed assignment, failing to pick up a trailer led to a goal and the rout was on. The Devils even had a tally taken off the board due to offsides or the end result might have been worse. The third period saw the blender come out. Copp was moved up to play with Zib and Kreider on the first line. Barclay Goodrow skated with Artemi Panarin and Ryan Strome. Tyler Motte landed on the left of Filip Chytil and Frank Vatrano. The newly created fourth line of Laf, Dryden Hunt and Ryan Reaves were skipped at times or saw minimal action.
The Rangers allowed 31 shots and 11 high-danger scoring chances, according to Natural Stat Trick, though it seemed higher. In addition, the team was credited with 13 turnovers — a number that may have been conservative. All in all, a brutal performance especially in a game that started out so well.
2) Lafreniere, made to be one of the whipping boys in the loss, was limited to just three shifts in the final 27:20, finishing with only 10:26 time on ice and 15 shifts — his lowest totals since Jan. 24. Sitting him was curious, especially since he started the game with a strong shift and he helped create the first goal of the contest, notching an assist for the fourth straight game. The explanation from Gallant was in line with what we have come to expect, coach’s speak and no clarity as to why the move was really made.
"It was me wanting to go to three lines," Gallant said when asked why he sat for long stretches. "That’s what I chose to do. It wasn’t just Laffy."
3) Igor Shesterkin, left out to dry by his teammates, allowed five goals on 24 shots. He likely should have been pulled after the fourth goal but remained in for the latter part of the second period. Shesterkin was beaten on point shots, rebounds and with traffic in front.
After carrying the team for weeks, there's been a dip in his play in the last five starts, during which he's posted an .878 save percentage. Tuesday’s loss was the third time in those five outings since March 10 that Igor allowed at least four goals after not giving up more than three goals in 18 straight starts from Dec. 31-March 6. In addition, he has been pulled twice in that stretch. But Gallant was adamant about not pinning the loss on the netminder.
"I don’t blame the goalie," he said. "He’s been great for us all year. I’m not going to leave him hanging out to dry cause your team is not playing well."
4) Artemi Panarin, who had an assist on Ryan Steome’s sixth goal in the last 15 games, was shaken up late in the game on a face-to-face collision with Jonas Siegenthaler. While he did return for a shift after that, he sat for the final 8:21 — perhaps as a precaution, or perhaps because the score was already out of hand. No word on his status was given after the game nor do I believe a question was asked in the post-game press conference on how he was fairing.
5) Chris Kreider did notch his 42nd of the game very late in the contest but a blunder/ brain cramp by him likely killed any chance the team had to come back. Down 5-3, Kreider had an opportunity to cut it to 5-4 on a shorthanded 2-on-1 less than six minutes later but passed to Zibanejad after Mika set him up for a shot. Jack Hughes scored the first of his two markers on a rush the other way at 9:36 to push New Jersey's lead to 6-3 and it was all she wrote.
"I always shoot that, every practice whenever he gives me that, so no idea why I tried to give it back to him," Kreider said. "That could be the difference between a one-goal game and a three-goal game."6) Positives - not that many but there were a few. Copp had two assists in 17:39 of ice time showing the ability to move up and down the lineup and shift from wing to center and back. Tyler Motte skated 13:07, showing the speed and forecheck he was advertised as having, notching three hits and four shots on goal. Zibanejad has scored six goals in his past 10 games and has 499 NHL points while Fox posted a goal and an assist.
7) Other - Patrik Nemeth and Justin Braun may be too slow to be used as a pair. Neither looked fast enough to cover for the other. Wonder if Zac Jones gets another chance on the left side and how long Braden Schneider sits. Granted, it was one game and Braun just arrived. This is why the two days off before the Pittsburgh game should help the newbies learn the system and get their legs underneath them.