Recap: Rangers Held Winless on the Road, Lose 3-2 to Utah

Wrapping up their West Coast road trip in desperate need of a win, the New York Rangers paid a visit to the Utah Mammoth. The big news ahead of this one was the Rangers would be without their Captain as J.T. Miller was listed as day-to-day with an upper-body injury at the team’s morning skate earlier that day. This left the Rangers in a bit of a pinch, forcing Jonny Brodzinski into the top six with Jusso Parssinen slotting in on the fourth line. 

Scott Morrow would also remain in the lineup in place of Will Borgen who remained day-to-day and Jonathan Quick would get the nod for his sixth start of the season. 

First Period

After a slow start from both sides, the Rangers got the first power play of the night just three minutes into the game. As Alexis Lafrenière was weaving his way into the offensive zone, Barrett Hayton tripped him up, sending him crashing into the boards. After a bit of a nonchalant outing from the top unit, the second group brought some fire with the first shot on goal about a minute and a half into the advantage. They followed that up with three more to keep Karel Vejmelka busy but wouldn't convert as play returned to even strength. 

It wasn’t long before the tide turned and Utah was in the Rangers end of the ice peppering Jonathan Quick with some quality chances. The veteran netminder seemingly picked up right where he left out in the Detroit game, appearing to be at the top of his game. However, just after the midway point of the period, Utah would find the back of the net. 

A shot from Nate Schmidt at the point went off some traffic in front and tickled the post to Quick’s right. Lawson Crouse was left unattended behind all the commotion in front which would have allowed for him to tap home the loose puck had the stick of JJ Peterka not beat him to it, making it a 1-0 game halfway through the first. Not much Quick could do there but one of the two Rangers defensemen who were standing right on top of each other on the same side probably could have helped out a bit more. 

It took some time but with just under five minutes to go in the period, the Rangers tied it up. As Mika Zibanejad moved the puck over to Adam Fox at the point, Fox’s shot went through some traffic, taking a redirect off the stick of Vladislav Gavrikov to tie the game up 1-1. 

Aside from a chance from the Trocheck line that nearly set Lafrenière up at the doorstep, that would do it for the first period. After twenty minutes, the score was tied at one with the Mammoth out-shooting the Rangers 13-11. Both teams were credited with four high danger chances with the Rangers having the slight edge in scoring chances, face-off wins and hits. 

Second Period

Another low event start to the period was followed by another early penalty, this time to both teams. Close to five minutes in, Matthew Robertson was called for interference on Logan Cooley who the refs felt sort of sold the call which earned him two minutes for embellishment. This brought the teams to two minutes of 4-on-4 hockey where Utah would have the better of the scoring chances. Quick again came up with a big save, shutting down a Clayton Keller shot from the point and tracking down the rebound, getting to it before Hayton who had lots of open net to bury the rebound. 

With just under twelve minutes to go, Artemi Panarin was able to take advantage of a clear from Gavrikov (redirected along the boards by Trocheck) that gave him a breakaway with speed. Panarin’s initial shot was stopped by Vejmelka but the puck ended up squeaking through to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead. That came as just the Rangers second shot on goal of the period. 

About three minutes later, a turnover from Scott Morrow that came as a result of a strong forecheck from Clayton Keller created a chance for Kailer Yamamoto who was breaking towards the Rangers net with speed. The puck would roll off the stick of Yamamoto and end up back on Keller’s who let a shot go that initially appeared to go off the crossbar. As play went on, the horn eventually sounded as the puck certainly went in, hitting the inside crossbar to make it a 2-2 game. 

Overall, it was much of the same across the second period although this time around, the Rangers only had three shots on goal as Utah was now leading in the count 21-15. On the bright side, the Rangers were still toe-to-toe with their opponents in high danger chances, won 30 of 39 face-offs and were still managing to generate offense. On the other hand, there wasn’t a ton coming from the Rangers that was driving much of anything in this one. They needed to find some inspiration here in the third if they wanted to come out of this one with a win. 

Third Period

Two minutes in, Quick was again standing on his head as he made a highlight reel save shutting down Dylan Guenther on a partial breakaway. The Rangers wouldn't generate much of anything themselves until about four minutes later where Panarin moved the puck across to Lafrenière who let a quick shot go that generated some rebounds that found everything but the back of the net.

Sure enough, Utah would take the puck the other way and after spending some time back in the Rangers zone, a slap shot from Nick Desimone at the point took a redirect off a shin pad or two to find its way through Quick to make it a 3-2 game.

With close to eight minutes to go in regulation, the Rangers got their second power play of the night as Logan Cooley was sent off for tripping. A massive opportunity for the Rangers to get back in this one but the man advantage came and went with minimal threat. The top unit remained stagnant, passed the puck too much and found the shin pads with the shots they did opt to take.

This game easily could have been 5-2 at this point as Peterka had a breakaway on Quick that was turned away. Cooley nearly had a breakaway of his own soon after as Gavrikov coughed the puck up and lost his footing at the hashmarks.

Things went from bad to worse soon after as Michael Carcone got tied up with Matthew Robertson and ended up crashing into Quick. Play was blown dead as the Rangers goaltender was in an incredible amount of distress and took a while to regain his footing. Despite it not looking good, Quick appeared to be ok and remained in the game.

With time quickly running out, the Rangers struggled to gain the zone, to the point where they iced the puck with a minute and a half to go. Afterwards, they were finally able to get Quick out of the ice and generate some offense. A shot from Zibanejad gave them an offensive zone draw but it wasn't long before the Mammoth were able to clear the zone resulting in a slashing call against the Rangers.

This forced Quick back to the net and kept Utah in the offensive zone for the remainder of the game as the Rangers drop their fourth game in a row in a 3-2 loss in Utah. Another disappointing showing on the road as Quick's heroics weren't enough to get this team a win.

The Rangers will return home to host the St. Louis Blues Monday night before hitting the road again to take on Carolina and Boston.