Rangers hit another low, lose to last-place Blackhawks 2-1
So bad are things for the New York Rangers these days that even a visit from the last-place Chicago Blackhawks couldn’t spur the Blueshirts to victory. Instead, the Rangers never led in a 2-1 loss to the 32nd-overall Blackhawks, who ended a five-game losing streak.
It was the first NHL win for interim coach Anders Sorensen, who replaced the fired Luke Richardson last week.
The Rangers (14-12-1) have lost two straight and eight of their past 10 games (2-8-0). They are 9-12-0 since beginning the season on a six-game point streak (5-0-1).
Igor Shesterkin was solid and finished with 30 saves, but has lost six of his past seven starts. Will Cuylle scored New York’s only goal against Chicago goalie Arvid Soderblom, who made 28 saves in place of Petr Mrazek, who was placed on IR this weekend with a groin injury.
Taylor Hall scored his sixth goal for the Blackhawks and added an assist. Tyler Bertuzzi also scored for the Blackhawks, and reigning Calder Trophy winner Connor Bedard had an assist.
After a strong start, the Rangers were outhustled and outplayed by a seemingly inferior opponent. It was an ugly loss, and boos rained down from the fans inside The Garden.
“It’s frustrating. I get it. Deservedly so,” Rangers coach Peter Laviolette said postgame. “When your pace should be at a higher level and your execution should be at a higher level, I get it. It’s frustration.”
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Chicago Blackhawks 2 – New York Rangers 1
Though they played a strong first period, the Rangers still surrendered the first goal. It was the 14th time in 27 games this season the Rangers fell behind 1-0.
A soft wraparound behind his own net by Mika Zibanejad was easily picked off by Hall, who came out from behind the goal line and sent a pass to the right circle, where Bertuzzi zipped his sixth goal into the back of the cage to put Chicago up at 8:10.
It appeared that lead would hold up to the first intermission, but the Rangers scored their third short-handed goal of the season with less than a minute remaining in the period to tie the score 1-1. Cuylle collected his first shortie in the NHL — and 10th goal of the season — when he buried a rebound after Sam Carrick charged to the net at 19:17.
The Rangers deserved the tie through 20 minutes after outchancing the Blackhawks 12-3, including 4-0 in high-danger opportunities.
Chicago, though, regained the lead at 6:16 of the second period. This time, K’Andre Miller turned the puck over in the offensive zone and Chicago’s Jason Dickinson fired an outlet pass to Bedard at center ice to create a 2-on-1 rush the other way. Bedard fed Hall on left wing, and as the forward drove to the net and Shetserkin challenged him, the puck slid off his stick blade, but hit Shesterkin’s stick and redirected over the goal line to make it 2-1.
Despite that bit of misfortune, Shesterkin was sharp in the second period, making 12 saves. His best save was an alert reaction after a Blackhawks centering feed near the goal line deflected off Rangers defenseman Ryan Lindgren in front; Shesterkin stretched his left leg as far as possible to get his skate on the puck by the post.
Chicago reversed the pace in the second period, outchancing the Rangers 12-6, which included an 8-1 advantage in high-danger chances. The Rangers were limited to a woeful xGF of 0.26 in the middle frame, per Natural Stat Trick.
As such, the Rangers were lucky to be down only 2-1 heading into the third period, even though Artemi Panarin wired a right-wing shot off the post in the second.
The Blackhawks owned the territorial advantage in the third period, and the Rangers mustered little offense. That is until Miller was sent a pass as the trailer in the offensive zone and snapped a quick shot that Soderblom swallowed up at 14:32.
Chicago came close to taking a two-goal lead a minute later, but Shesterkin made a huge right-pad save to snuff Ryan Donato’s breakaway attempt.
In the final minute, after the Rangers pulled Shesterkin for the extra attacker, Zibanejad shot wide twice from his preferred spot in the left circle. Then in the final seconds, Chris Kreider ripped a shot from between the circles that Soderblom denied with his left pad. And that was it.
In a game they absolutely couldn’t lose, the Rangers did. And now it’s on to Buffalo for a tilt against the struggling Sabres on Wednesday — Buffalo is 0-5-2 in its past seven games after blowing a 5-3 lead in the third period Monday night and losing 6-5 to the Detroit Red Wings in a shootout.
“The only answers are going to come from that room,” Laviolette said. “We’ve got to be better than we were tonight.”
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