Rangers Recap: Kings Snap Rangers’ Home Win Streak, 6-3

In their final game of October, the New York Rangers hosted the Los Angeles Kings. With James Reimer getting his first start in a Rangers jersey, the team looked to keep its win streak on home ice alive.

There were a couple of tweaks to the lineup in place for Monday's game, continuing changes we began to see over the weekend. Oliver Bjorkstrand was back on the second line, but Pavel Dorofeyev was the one bumping down to the third line. Eeli Tolvanen was also bumped down to the fourth line.

First Period

The Rangers have had some good starts on home ice this season, but Monday was not one of those nights. Just 75 seconds into the game, Taylor Ward ended up on a breakaway after some sustained pressure from the Rangers. A quick shot was all it took to beat Reimer as Ward snuck the puck five-hole to make it a 1-0 game.

Not long after, the Rangers were called for what would have been the game's first penalty. Instead, the Kings held possession for an extended 6-on-5 shift, and a shot from Joel Armia took a redirect in front to find the back of the net, 2-0 Kings.

Not a great start for Reimer, who did go on to make a pretty save on a rebound attempt a few shifts later. However, a large part of why it was a nice save had to do with the fact that Quinton Byfield dusted the pass, which bought him some time. Another part of it had to do with it being more efficient for Reimer to just throw his body in the way of it instead of attempting to slide across.

Meanwhile, the Rangers made a change to the defense pairings as Alberts Smits moved up to the second pair with Sean Durzi, pushing Marcus Pettersson to the third with Braden Schneider.

With seven minutes to go, the Rangers' second line was buzzing, as it had been from the start. J.T. Miller rang a shot off the post, which got the shift started, but it was a shot from Tye Kartye that went off the skate of Miller to find the back of the net, making it a 2-1 game.

At first glance, it certainly looked as though the goal from Miller sparked some momentum in this group. Until, of course, the Kings made it a 3-1 game. The Kings moved the puck well around the Rangers' end of the ice, and a shot from Drew Doughty went off the post and in.

The Kings nearly made it 4-1 as a shot from Erik Haula found the post later in the period. The Rangers kept the deficit to two heading into the first intermission as the Kings outshot them 8-5. The Miller line looked good, but just about everything else on the Rangers' side of things did not.

Second Period

Dylan Garand's break would only last for a period, as he returned to the crease to start the second. With Reimer on the bench, Garand was tasked with helping the Rangers kill off an early penalty after Schneider was sent off for tripping. That did not go according to plan, as a shot from Artemi Panarin (assisted by Erik Gustafsson) went off the post and in through a ton of traffic in front to make it a 4-1 game.

About five minutes later, an offensive-zone faceoff win for the Kings resulted in their fifth goal of the night. This time it was Mikey Anderson picking up his first of the season off an uninterrupted shot from the point. 5-1 Los Angeles.

Not even a minute later, another shot from the point set up a rebound for Brandt Clarke to poke home. The Rangers challenged for goaltender interference and caught a bit of a break as the call on the ice was reversed, keeping the score 5-1. As play resumed, the teams skated 4-on-4 for two minutes after both captains were called for holding amid a net-front battle.

The 4-on-4 helped slow things down a bit, and with seven and a half minutes to go in the period, the Rangers got their first chance of the evening on the power play. It wasn't a pretty start to the man advantage, but Adam Fox was able to fire a shot from the point home to make it a 5-2 game.

That sparked some life for the Rangers, but with 67 seconds to go in the period, Noah Laba was sent off for roughing to send L.A. back to the power play. The Rangers held them off as the period came to an end but still had just under a minute to kill off in the third. Shots after 40 minutes were 23-18 in L.A.'s favor.

Third Period

The Rangers fought off the rest of the advantage to start the third, but they were right back to it as Smits was called for interference two minutes into the period. The penalties kept them from really gaining momentum in the third as time quickly began to get away from the Rangers.

Pulling Garand for the extra attacker early, the Rangers had five and a half minutes to erase a three-goal deficit. With just under four minutes to go, Kartye beat Darcy Kuemper with a wrist shot off the rush to bring the Rangers within two, 5-3.

It was too little, too late, as Joel Edmundson found the empty net for his first of the season with three and a half minutes to go. Quite the disappointing showing, as the Rangers' win streak on home ice comes to an end in a 6-3 loss to the Kings. Final shots on goal were 26-25 in L.A.'s favor. The Rangers have a much-needed five days off and will be back at it Sunday against the Edmonton Oilers, looking to right the ship following a three-game losing streak.