Recap: Rangers Blow 2-0 Lead, Drown in Overtime
Back to the drawing board. Following their big come from behind win in Anaheim, the Rangers had the chance to head home with another big win. However, a pair of third period goals would force overtime and eventually resulted in them blowing the lead as it all came down to one disastrous play. Another incredibly frustrating night as the Rangers blew the chance to finish the road trip on a high note in what was for the most part, a decent showing up until the third period.
In lighter news, it was a bit of a milestone night on the Rangers bench as the Blueshirts’ cherished Equipment Manager Acacio Marques would take part in his 2,000th career game with the organization. Certainly a noteworthy accomplishment for a guy that many people within the New York Rangers family have nothing but outstanding things to say about.
1st Period:
It would end up being a solid opening period for the Rangers after a bit of a slow start with a pace that continued to build as the period went on. Once the teams settled in, the Rangers saw a couple of eye-catching moments. Vincent Trocheck had one where he took the puck hard to the net but wouldn’t finish. Jonny Brodzinski had a similar play where he rushed up the ice closer to the left slide and let a hard shot go on what was only a stride or two away from being a breakaway. On top of that, Kaapo Kakko looked really strong on the puck as he was all over the ice on more than one occasion looking to make things happen.
Anthony Duclair had one of the Sharks best chances of the period as he came down the ice with great speed and set himself up nicely to cut from his backhand side to his forehand but a great defensive play by Adam Fox kept him from a shot goal. The Sharks didn’t have a ton of opportunities throughout the first as they were limited to three high danger chances that mostly came towards the end of the period. Additionally, the Rangers were showing signs of being much better defensively than they have been as of late.
Just two minutes away from the first period midway park, the play would start and end with Adam Fox. As the Rangers defender crept into the zone, he let a quick shot go that allowed for a rebound to be handled by Vincent Trocheck. Trocheck then let a shot go from the center of the face-off circle to Mackenzie Blackwood’s right that left a rebound right at the top of the crease for Fox to tap home, giving the Rangers a 1-0 lead.
Vincent Trocheck picked up his 30th assist of the year on the play as well as his 300th of his career.
Another very similar chance from Anthony Dulcair was defended perfectly again by the Rangers, this time it was K’Andre Miller making a brilliant play with the stick to knock him off the puck. The Sharks made a push late in the first as Kyle Burroughs had as good a chance as you can get right at the front door but sent the puck just wide of the net behind Igor Shesterkin. Not long after that, Fabian Zetterlund had a point blank chance from higher in the slot that resulted in a flashy glove save from the Rangers netminder.
The Rangers would end up taking a penalty at the end of that shift as Vincent Trocheck was called for kneeing Kyle Burroughs. The Rangers would hold the Sharks off for a minute and a half and take the one goal lead into the first intermission. Through the first twenty, the Sharks out-shot the Rangers 9-7 and bested them in face-offs with a 57% success rate. Outside of that, the Rangers certainly had their bright spots throughout the period and were without question off to one of the better starts they’ve seen on this road trip.
2nd Period:
The Rangers killed off the remaining time on the penalty to Trocheck and would be quick to build to their lead. As they took to the offensive zone, Adam Fox made a beautiful pass across to Artemiy Panarin who walked it in towards the high slot and let a hard shot go that beat Blackwood to extend their lead, 2-0.
The Rangers followed up the goal with a strong shift from their third line but the Sharks would quickly go the other way with it. Alexander Barabanov would pull off a move similar to what Duclair had attempted back in the first but Shesterkin read it like a book to put himself in position to take away that option. After making the save, Barabanov saw another chance at the top of the crease but an aggressive effort from Shesterkin scooped the puck up with his glove.
Jacob Trouba would end up sending the puck over the glass in an attempt to clear the zone which sent the Sharks back to the power play for the second time of the night. Rangers did a good job of killing off the man advantage as the teams returned to even strength. Not long after, the Sharks were assigned their first penalty of the night as Nikita Okhotiuk was called for hooking. A great job by Kaapo Kakko to draw the penalty as he continued to stand out all over the ice throughout the night.
The Rangers power play took to the ice but again, too much puck movement and not enough shooting resulted in the two minutes coming and going with nothing to show for. As play continued, the Rangers would head back to the penalty kill about a minute and a half after the games midway point as Artemiy Panarin tripped up Tomas Hertl on what would have been a potential odd man rush. Again, the Rangers were strong on the penalty kill and again, would soon result in a penalty going the other way.
Jan Ruuta would slow down Vincent Trocheck just a few moments after the Sharks power play ended which brought the Rangers top unit right back out there. Alas, it was much of the same story as they wouldn’t find a way to convert and the score remained 2-0. Jonny Brodzinski had a real good chance all alone in front of the net but his shot would go off the knob of Blackwood’s stick and into the corner.
That would just about do it for the second as the Rangers finished strong with a long shift in the Sharks end with the score remaining 2-0 to head into the second intermission. Lots of chances for both sides on the man advantage but it wouldn’t make a difference as both teams went 0/2 on power plays throughout the second. Shots were now 19-15 in favor of the Rangers as they picked it up in the face-off dot, going 18/30 and were overall outplaying the Sharks. Just one period would stand between them and wrapping up this tough four game road trip.
3rd Period:
Nico Sturm would teach us all a valuable lesson in why you can’t take a shift off in the National Hockey League. Two minutes into the game’s final period, it already felt like the Rangers were kind of sitting back just trying to glide their way through the final period. Erik Gustafsson banked a pass off the boards, intended for his D-partner in Braden Schneider but was instead scooped up by Nico Strum. From behind the net, Sturm threw the puck in Shesterkin’s direction which ended up in the back of the net to make it a 2-1 game.
That goal should have been a wake up call, cue the narrator saying it wasn’t. Two minutes later a shot from Jan Ruuta off a face-off would get deflected in front by… you guessed it, former Ranger, Ryan Carpenter. Carpenter, who has three goals on the season with two of them now coming against the Rangers.
Hindsight and all that but how many times have the Rangers allowed multiple goals in a short span of time this season? Perhaps it would have been worth burning the timeout after that first goal to prevent history from repeating itself. All of a sudden the Rangers were back to square one and frankly, had no one to blame but themselves. Alexis Lafrenière saw a chance off a quick feed from Trocheck but wouldn’t be able to get the puck on net. The Sharks had some jump to their game now as they were playing with much more speed and determination making this game closer than it should be.
With just under six minutes to go in regulation, the Rangers headed back to the power play as Calen Addison was sent off for cross-checking Jimmy Vesey. This had the potential to be a key moment in the game, especially for the power play to get going but again, it was nothing but puck movement and questionable passes. The two minutes came and went, the teams returned to even strength and went back and forth until the final buzzer sounded, indicating that extra time would be necessary to come to a decision on this one…
Overtime:
The Rangers opened 3-on-3 overtime with ZIbanejad, Kreider and Miller which… was a choice. A quick shot from Miller led to an offensive zone face-off and a line change but the Sharks would get the next big chance on the rush. Thankfully, Logan Couture missed the net which kept things going… for a brief moment.
As the Sharks took it to the Rangers zone, Jan Ruuta collided with a puckless Mika Zibanejad which knocked the stick out of his hands and led to utter disaster. Should it have been an interference penalty? We can split hairs and argue about that for hours but at the end of the day, multiple things are true in that moment:
The Rangers never should have put themselves in this position after taking a 2-0 lead to the third period and controlling most of the night up to that point. Mika Zibanejad giving up on the play to grab his stick was a questionable decision, Miller and Lafrenière chasing the puck was also a tough look and the Sharks took advantage, capitalizing on a perfect passing play.
Bright side? One point is better than no points but in all honesty, this was a brutal road trip for the Rangers and ending it on a positive note would have been really important. Not for nothing, Igor Shesterkin had a strong night and had the Rangers gotten off to a better start in the third period, this was a realistic opportunity for this team to help their goaltender get a confidence boosting shutout.
It’ll be a long plane road home for this Rangers team as they went 1-2-1 through the four game run on the West Coast. They’ll have a couple of days between games as they head back to the Garden for a rematch with Vegas on Friday and a quick trip to Ottawa to close out another back-to-back. With two games left before the All-Star break, this team needs to finish on a high note as badly as they need the break itself.