Recap: Again!? Oilers Blank Rangers 2-0 for Third Straight Shutout Loss at Home

Following a tough loss in an otherwise strong outing at the Garden Sunday night, the New York Rangers were back at it, playing host to the Edmonton Oilers. After going scoreless in their first two home games of the season, the Rangers desperately needed to snap that streak but unfortunately had a repeat outing of sorts. Despite playing good hockey and competing with a top team in the west, the Rangers were held scoreless for the third home game in a row, setting a new NHL record in the process.

First Period

Both sides were off to the races in this one as the Rangers and Oilers set a great pace to the game with the first whistle not coming for about seven minutes. One of the main talking points this summer surrounded the coaching of Mike Sullivan and what it meant for this Rangers team. That first half of the opening period against the Oilers was a great example of that as Sullivan and his staff were doing a great job of matching up his lines against the Oilers, continuing to put J.T. Miller’s line out there against the McDavid-Draistaitl line which allowed for Mika Zibanejad’s line to shine. 

Right from the jump the strong two-way play of Zibanejad allowed for the Rangers to generate some offense as they spent the majority of the first half of play in Edmonton’s end of the ice. Sam Carrick, who continues to prove he is worth every penny of that contract he signed two summers ago, had the best scoring chance of the period as he nearly danced his way through Stuart Skinner’s crease to tuck one himself. About midway through the period, Carrick came close to helping Cuylle pick up a goal, following a great one-handed interception behind the Oilers net. 

However, it wasn’t just the Rangers finding scoring chances. With just under six minutes to go in the period, Evan Bouchard had a point blank chance that resulted in a flashy glove save from Igor Shesterkin to keep things scoreless. 

The end result of that opening period would be another scoreless, penalty free stretch of hockey but the Rangers were playing some fantastic hockey. Defensively, they were making some really great plays, specifically Zibanejad and Carrick. They were skating every inch of the ice right alongside the Oilers which is definitely encouraging to see. The lack of goals however, definitely discouraging. 

Shots after twenty were 8-5 in Edmonton’s favor with the majority of them coming in the final stretch of the period. The Oilers also had the advantage in shot attempts, hits and face-offs but the high danger chances were tied at one apiece. The Rangers were playing great but have now gone 140 minutes without scoring a goal on home ice. 

Second Period

The Rangers were mere inches away from finding the back of the net within the first two minutes of play as Braden Schneider picked up a rebound and ripped a shot off the crossbar. The pace established in the first carried right over into the second as both sides were continuing to showcase some excellent hockey. 

The fourth line continued to have an impact as Carrick made a great pass ahead to Adam Edstrom who came in at the end of a long shift all alone on Skinner to let a quick shot off. That duo would have a similar scoring chance leading up to the exact midway point of the period but again, Skinner was able to make the save. 

On the following shift, Urho Vaakanainen attempted to dump the puck into the offensive zone but the puck hit the linesman and stayed in the neutral zone. This resulted in Trent Frederic picking up speed and coming in on Shesterkin all alone where he was able to sneak a shot through the five hole to make it a 1-0 game. Sure, there’s some bad luck involved there but at the same time, you have to get the zone when you’re in that position. 

Shortly after, the Rangers got the first power play chance of the game as Troy Stecher had grabbed the stick of Jonny Brodzinski, taking him down in the process. The top power play went to work and had some solid chances but just could not find the back of the net. As the second unit regained the zone, the Oilers were called for another penalty as Leon Draistaitl got the stick up high on Braden Schneider. Conor Sheary wisely turned the puck over immediately to get a little bit of time with the 5-on-3 advantage. 

Through two power plays, the Rangers were unable to convert. As they returned to even strength, Matt Rempe just missed a pass from Sheary in the slot that would have been a great chance. Shortly after that, Carrick had another phenomenal scoring chance that rang off the crossbar. For those keeping score, that’s two crossbars, no goals for the Rangers as they were closing in on 160 minutes without a goal on home ice. In case you’re wondering, yes that is a record. 

Shots after two periods of play were 17-11 in the Rangers favor but the Oilers had the 1-0 lead. 

Third Period

It was much of the same through the first half of the period as the Rangers continued to do everything but find the back of the net. With just under twelve minutes to go, they would get a third chance on the power play as Vladislav Gavrikov took a stick up high from Brett Kulak. Despite four quality shots on goal throughout the man advantage, the Rangers were still coming up empty handed.

It was truly remarkable that Sam Carrick was not only one of the Rangers' most dangerous forwards throughout this game but was constantly getting robbed all night long. With about two and a half to go, he found himself on another partial breakaway and was robbed with the glove by Skinner. Credit where it's due, Stuart Skinner played a strong game but when you're in the situation the Rangers found themselves in, that's not an excuse you want to lean on.

The Rangers pulled the goalie for the extra attacker and despite one or two good looks, they gave up the empty net goal with 68 seconds to go. One of their many issues last season involved not being able to score 6-on-5 when they needed a goal to push for the extra point and through the early parts this season, it appears that is still a serious growth area for them.

That would do it in this one as the Rangers dropped their second game in a row by a score of 2-0. The good news, they did a lot of things right and played well in all areas of the ice. The bad news, they can't score for the life of them. Unfortunately, one of those things matters a lot more when it comes to winning hockey games.

The Rangers are back at it Thursday night as they'll head up north to take on the Toronto Maple Leafs as they set off on a two game road trip.