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Game 75: PIT 5 NYR 2, Early lead vanishes quickly in loss

March 26, 2019, 8:57 AM ET [537 Comments]
Jan Levine
New York Rangers Blogger • RSSArchiveCONTACT
The Rangers burst out to a 2-0 lead before the Penguins scored five straight markers to win 5-2. New York was unable to stem the tide once Pittsburgh got going as they moved into a second-place tie with the Islanders in the Metro Division, one point behind the Capitals, though Pittsburgh has one more game played. The Blueshirts play seven games in 11 nights, starting Wednesday in Boston

Game recap:


David Quinn Post-Game:



The Rangers took a 1-0 lead on a goal by Brendan Lemieux at 8:25 of the first period, resulting from a really nice passing play between Mika Zibanejad, Pavel Buchnevich and Lemiuex. New York upped the lead to 2-0 on a goal by Vinni Lettieri on the power play at 15:15. It was his first goal of the season and came following a brilliant cross-ice feed from Tony DeAngelo. Then the wheels came off, which wasn't that surprising, even though Pitt was without Evgeni Malkin and Kris Letang, while New York was missing Jesper Fast (likely out for the season), Chris Kreider and Marc Staal.

Nick Bjugstad made it 2-1 at 15:41 and Justin Shultz’s power-play goal tied it at 1:01 of the second period with Brady Skjei serving a high-sticking penalty. Matt Cullen scored shortside, top-shelf at 7:17 of the second, and while Alexandar Georgiev maybe could have stopped it, the shot was perfectly placed by Cullen. Teddy Blueger’s shorthanded tally at 13:12 was a result of a chip pass, catching Kevin Shattenkirk, who was pretty solid again, flatfooted, after several chances on Georgiev. Bleuger wrapped up the scoring with his second of the game in the third.

Overall, Pittsburgh's talent won out. Georgiev was good but didn't steal the game, as he did Saturday, Offensively, as Larry Brooks wrote, the Blueshirts have scored 22 goals in their past 12 games, limited to two or fewer 11 times. That latter number is pretty staggering and shows how much scoring talent must be imported. Pavel Buchnevich (six) and Ryan Strome (five) had combined for half the team’s goals over that stretch.

Brooks' paragraph here spells here the wild swings of the season. It was clearly fools' gold in late-November but the fall from grace has been pretty stark. New York may close out the season like they did last year, collapsing down the stretch. Though I think we all believe the future should be bright.

The Rangers’ fall from contention was swift and dramatic, with Thanksgiving representing a clear line of demarcation for the year. After defeating the Islanders 5-0 at the Garden on Thanksgiving Eve for their ninth victory in 11 games (9-1-1) to push their record to 12-8-2 overall, the Blueshirts won just three of their next 14 (3-6-5) and five of the next 21 (5-11-5).


I wrote the below paragraph earlier. As I said, I will note the results of each of the final 10 games here and if New York’s place in the standings has changed. The paragraph also reflects the current standings.

March 19 – Detroit 3 New York 2. Still sixth. Tied with Anaheim, one game in hand. Edmonton lost, so no change
march 20 - Sabres lost (Buffalo has two more points than New York), Ducks lost (team has same number of points as Rangers but New York has two games in hand)
March 21 - Oilers won, so they are four points north of NY with the Rangers having a game in hand
March 22 - Anaheim wins, putting the Rangers for the time-being in fifth place in the lottery
March 23 - New York 2 Toronto 1, OT. Devils win, Oilers lose, Sabres lose
March 24 – no games impacted the bottom of the standings
March 25 - Pitt 5 NYR 2, Devils beat Sabres 3-1

If the Rangers continue to struggle, they could stay in fifth, as they are now, but the number of games remaining make that questionable. Edmonton has three more points than New York and have played the same number of games. In addition, Vancouver is three points north of the Rangers, with New York holding one game in hand while they also are one point shy of the Ducks but the Blueshirts have two games in hand. Buffalo and the Rangers have the same number of points and game played but Buffalo holds the tiebreaker, so New York is currently in fifth. New Jersey has played two more games and has four fewer points that New York, but the two teams meat Monday at the Rock. New York faces Detroit, Toronto (both games over), Pittsburgh, Boston, St. Louis, Philly, New Jersey, Ottawa, Columbus and Pittsburgh down the stretch.


After having three days in between games, the Rangers played Monday and now finish the season with seven games in the next 12 days, including five in the seven to close the season, consisting of two sets of back-to-backs. They close the season on a back-to-back (home against Columbus April 5 and in Pittsburgh on April 6).

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