Rangers don’t quite measure up in 6-3 loss to NHL-best Jets

NHL: Winnipeg Jets at New York Rangers
Credit: Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

The New York Rangers were better Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden than they’ve played recently. But better was not good enough against the hottest team in the NHL. The Rangers never led and lost to the Winnipeg Jets 6-3.

The Jets became the first team in NHL history to win 15 of its first 16 games in a season. They did so with Mark Scheifele and Kyle Connor each scoring two goals and goalie Connor Hellebuyck finishing with 34 saves.

Connor also had an assist for a three-point game. That was equaled by his teammate Neal Pionk; the ex-Rangers defenseman had three assists in the win. Gabriel Vilardi and Vladislav Namestnikov also scored for the Jets.

“They were opportunistic. The main difference is that they executed on their opportunities and chances, and we didn’t,” Rangers forward Reilly Smith said postgame.

The Rangers (9-4-1) chased the Jets (15-1-0) all night long after allowing a Scheifele goal 57 seconds following the opening face-off. Winnipeg is now 8-0-0 when scoring first this season; New York is 0-4-1 when allowing the first goal.

Will Cuylle, Alexis Lafreniere and Kaapo Kakko scored for the Rangers. Braden Schneider had two assists and Igor Shesterkin made 26 saves.

Related: Rangers coach letting defense pair ‘settle in’

Winnipeg Jets 6 – New York Rangers 3

NHL: Winnipeg Jets at New York Rangers
Wendell Cruz-Imagn Images

Just as they did in their previous home game, a 6-1 loss to the Buffalo Sabres last Thursday, Shesterkin and the Rangers allowed a goal less than a minute into the game. This time a weak clearing attempt by Mika Zibanejad was kept in at the left point by Winnipeg’s Josh Morrissey, and the defenseman sent a pass into the slot, where Scheifele beat Shesterkin one-on-one over the glove. Scheifele’s eighth goal of the season was scored 57 seconds into the game.

Though the Jets surged and controlled play the next several minutes, Shesterkin turned them aside to keep this a one-goal game. And the Rangers, who nearly scored before Scheifele’s goal when Chris Kreider rang a shot off the post on the game’s first shift, settled down and played a better defensive period as it progressed.

The quiet, and perhaps apprehensive, home crowd, woke up at 13:07 of the first period when Cuylle buried a rebound for his fifth goal to tie the score. Schneider kept a clearing attempt in at the right point, before firing a shot towards the net. Hellebuyck made the initial stop through traffic, but had no chance on Cuylle’s putback from the doorstep.

The game remained tied to the first intermission, though the Rangers had two more excellent scoring chances. First, Hellebuyck denied Adam Fox’s backhand attempt on a 2-on-1 short-handed rush. And then in the final seconds Lafreniere directed a gorgeous feed from Artemi Panarin off the outside of the post from in close.

All in all, it was largely an evenly-played period of hockey, one in which the Rangers regrouped nicely after the unfortunate start.

The Jets power play, which was tops in the League coming in, converting at 41.9 percent, struck at 8:58 of the second period to make it 2-1. This time a failed clear by Fox was kept in at the blue line by Pionk. He flipped a pass into the slot, where the puck bounced over K’Andre Miller’s stick. That gave Vilardi and Nikolaj Ehlers the chance to play give-and-go uncontested in front of Shesterkin. Vilardi scored an easy tap-in goal, his seventh of the season and third in four games, to restore Winnipeg’s one-goal advantage.

The Rangers answered back on the power play at 12:51. Lafreniere hammered his sixth goal of the season — second on the power play — through a Kreider screen to tie the score.

Hellebuyck made a pair of stellar saves against Panarin and Smith in the period, and Shesterkin was sharp, as well. But the Jets regained the lead once more before the second intermission arrived.

This time, Connor beat Shesterkin short side off the rush with a left-wing snipe at 16:03. It was his team-high 10th goal, and first in six games.

The teams traded goals in the opening two minutes of the third period. Scheifele redirected a Dylan Demelo shot past Shesterkin for his second of the night at 1:08. And Kakko answered back for the Rangers 32 seconds later when he pushed a loose puck over the goal line after another Schneider shot through traffic.

The important goal got the Rangers within one at 4-3, and was Kakko’s second of the season and first in eight games.

Shesterkin shined midway through the period, making four saves from the seat of his pants during a wild Jets flurry. On the next shift, Shesterkin made a fantastic glove save on a Haydn Fleury blast that was deflected late on the way in by Vilardi.

The opportunistic Jets scored again on an odd-man rush at 13:08 to take a 5-3 lead. This time Namestnikov set up Ehlers, whose shot went over the net. Namestnikov, though, collected the carom behind the goal line and tucked the puck inside the goal post before Shesterkin could scramble back into position.

Connor then finished off the Rangers scoring his second of the game into an empty-net with 20 seconds remaining in regulation.

“It’s tough to be happy with a loss like that,” Cuylle said. “For most of the game, we were neck and neck, and a couple bounces their way … a few posts. A tough loss.”

The loss dropped the Rangers to 4-4-0 in their past eight games. Next up, they will host the San Jose Sharks at MSG on Thursday, before commencing a four-game road trip in Seattle against the Kraken on Sunday.

Jim Cerny is Executive Editor at Forever Blueshirts and Managing Editor at Sportsnaut, with more than 30 years of ... More about Jim Cerny
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