New York Rangers falter to lowly Ducks in 3-2 loss
This most assuredly was not the way the New York Rangers wanted to end an otherwise successful road trip. Despite outshooting the Anaheim Ducks by a 43 to 22 margin, two questionable goals by Jaroslav Halak and an 0-4 night on the power play did them in.
“We played really well. We hit five goal posts and crossbars,” Gerard Gallant said on the team’s YouTube channel. “We had lots of opportunities and (John) Gibson obviously stood on his head, so I can’t fault the performance. Just disappointed we didn’t get any points out of it. That’s part of the game. We’ve done that plenty of times with our goaltender.”
Recap: Ducks 3 vs Rangers 2
1st Period
It looked like a night where the Rangers would roll over the worst team in the NHL when Barclay Goodrow opened the scoring on a beautiful individual effort.
Turning on the jets after a block from his own blue-line, he split the defense, protected the puck and put it by John Gibson just 8:51 into the game.
Unfortunately, and indicative of how the night would go, Mason McTavish found a loose puck off a point shot and beat Jaroslav Halak to even the contest a mere 31 seconds later.
2nd Period
The middle stanza was a nightmare for Halak who allowed two goals on the Ducks first three shots.
Dmitry Kulikov’s tally was the most egregious as the 32 year-old defenseman with 44 goals in 825 career NHL games took a bad angle shot that went through him just 39 seconds in.
Troy Terry would score the eventual game-winner at the 5:25 mark when he snapped a shot over Halak’s blocker, who did not appear to have his angle set.
“[Halak] didn’t get much work. I’m sure that second goal he’s not happy about,” Gallant said. “You stay with it. He’s a veteran guy, he’s won a lot of hockey games in his career. We’ll get some wins for him.”
Braden Schneider would score his second goal in as many nights with 1:54 remaining. The assists would go to Mika Zibanejad and Artemi Panarin, who picked up his 400th career helper.
3rd Period
The New York Rangers came with a late push but could not get the equalizer by John Gibson.
“We had four of five empty nets where he made some type of save,” lamented Zibanejad. “It’s frustrating. We don’t play our best game but we create enough chances and the puck doesn’t want to go in.”
In the end, the Rangers completed this western trip going 2-1-1. They sit with a record of 10-7-4 and 24 points which is tied for third in the Metropolitan Division. At the Thanksgiving break, they hold the first Wild Card spot in the East.
Why is that significant? Well, teams that usually are in playoff position come Thanksgiving make the playoffs aroundĀ 77% of the time.
Notable Rangers
- Jaroslav Halak stopped only 19 of 22 shots
- Adam Fox point streak ends at 9
- Artemi Panarin records career assist 400
Thursday, November 24: Day Off (Happy Thanksgiving)
Friday, November 25: Practice at MSG Training Center, 11 AM ET
Saturday, November 26: vs Edmonton Oilers, 1 PM ET
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