3 Rangers takeaways after blowing two-goal lead in 4-3 OT loss to Ottawa Senators
The New York Rangers were less than 10 minutes away from coming home with a win against the Ottawa Senators and possession of the first wild-card playoff berth in the Eastern Conference. But as has been a problem all season, they couldn’t close the deal.
New York led the Senators 3-1 with the final period more than halfway done on Saturday, only to allow goals by Ridley Greig and Michael Amadio that sent the game into overtime. Brady Tkachuk, a thorn in the Rangers’ side all day, needed just 33 seconds of overtime to get the game-winner in a 4-3 victory, capitalizing after New York (31-26-6) misfired on a pass in its own zone.
Instead of going into Sunday’s game against the Columbus Blue Jackets at Madison Square as the first wild card, the Rangers will come in tied in points with the Jackets (30-24-8), who have played one fewer game, for the second spot. The Senators, who were less than 10 minutes away from sending the crowd of 18,224 at Canadian Tire Centre home disappointed, now own the first wild card.
Having to settle for one point after being so close to a vital win is a disappointment, but the Rangers can’t dwell on it – not with the Blue Jackets coming to MSG in the second game of a stretch that will see them play nine times in 15 days. That’s a lot of hockey, so the Rangers have to look ahead to the points they can earn, not the ones that got away.
Related: Rangers blow two-goal lead, wild-card berth in 4-3 OT loss to Senators
Three takeaways from Rangers disappointing OT loss to Senators
Here are three takeaways from the Rangers’ 4-3 overtime loss to Ottawa on Saturday
1. Another blown lead turns into OT loss
If the Rangers don’t make the playoffs, games like this one and the 3-2 overtime loss to the Washington Capitals will be the reason why.
The Rangers are now 1-6 in overtime. In the last five of those six losses, they wasted third-period leads. This might have been the most painful, both because of the stakes and because it was the first time they had to settle for a single point after leading by two goals in the final 20 minutes.
“That’s disappointing. We were in control of the game,” coach Peter Laviolette said in a very brief postgame media conference. “We didn’t finish it, so it’s disappointing we leave a point on the table and not get the win.”
It had to be especially disappointing because the Senators are one of the teams the Rangers are battling in the scramble for a playoff berth in the East. A win Saturday would have moved them past the Senators and Blue Jackets and put them within three points of the Jack Hughes-less New Jersey Devils, who are third in the Metropolitan Division.
Call it a missed opportunity – and a painful one.
2. No time to mope
March is perhaps the busiest month of the season in the NHL — especially after the trade deadline passes. Teams know that the guys they’re with in the locker room after the deadline are the ones who’ll be with them through the battle for a postseason berth and throughout the playoffs.
The Rangers began the toughest grind of their season on Saturday. The game at Ottawa was the first of nine in a stretch of 15 days. They visit the League-leading Winnipeg Jets on Tuesday to start a three-game road trip, then begin a four-game homestand by hosting the Edmonton Oilers on March 16 in the second of back-to-back games after playing at Columbus the night before.
That kind of compact schedule makes the game against the Jackets on Sunday even more important – and means they can’t spend Saturday night pondering the disappointment of a lost opportunity.
“We don’t have time [to be] frustrated for too long,” said forward Artemi Panarin, whose third-period goal gave the Rangers the 3-1 lead they couldn’t hold. “We have a very important game tomorrow. We have to be ready.”
3. Soucy scores in Rangers debut
Carson Soucy, the defenseman acquired by the Rangers from the Vancouver Canucks on Thursday, had scored the game-winning goal in his final game with his former club on Wednesday. At 6-foot-5, Soucy makes his living keeping pucks out of his own net; any that he puts into the other team’s cage are an extra benefit.
The Rangers got one of those benefits in Saturday when the 30-year-old’s first-period shot leaked through Ottawa goaltender Linus Ullmark’s legs and into the net to give the Rangers a 1-0 lead. The puck actually crossed the goal line after the whistle had blown, but after a video review, the play was ruled to be continuous and the goal counted.
“No,” he said when asked if he knew the shot was a goal. “I think (Alexis Lafreniere) pointed at it first. Honestly wasn’t too pleased with my shot originally. But just trying to get pucks on net.”
Soucy finished the game having scored on his only shot on goal. He was also credited with one hit and one blocked shot in 15:39 of ice time. After scoring twice in his first 58 games, he has goals in back-to-back games.
“Not bad,” he said when asked about his play in his first game as a Ranger. “Unfortunately, not the win. (I) felt better as the game went on, think some things just going to take a little bit of time to get used to just [with the] systems change. But overall, the first game, I thought it felt pretty well.”
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