New York Rangers get embarrassed at home by Kings in 5-1 loss
The New York Rangers took much of the afternoon off on Saturday. Unfortunately for them, the visiting Los Angeles Kings showed up at Madison Square Garden ready to play – and did they ever.
The Rangers watched the Kings embarrass them in the first period and a half on the way to a 5-1 loss that dropped them to 3-9-0 in their last 12 games and 15-13-1 for the season. The home team was a step slow while allowing Los Angeles to do whatever it wanted, especially during a stretch early in the second period that saw the Kings score three goals in a span of 2:18 — the last two 24 seconds apart – to turn a 2-0 lead into a 5-0 runaway. They’ve won seven of their past eight games.
Most of the Kings goals came with Rangers defenders standing and watching — there was almost no effort made to tie up an opponent’s stick or bang a body. The No. 3 defense pairing of Zac Jones and Victor Mancini was on the ice for three of the five goals. Igor Shesterkin was all but abandoned by his teammates, allowing five goals on 21 goals before he was mercifully given the rest of the afternoon off; boos rained down from the sellout crowd as Jonathan Quick replaced him after Philip Danault’s goal at 5:04 made it 5-0.
“From start to finish, we were just flat,” forward Chris Kreider said. “It’s going to take a lot more effort to get out of this.”
Alex Turcotte, Adrian Kempe, Quinton Byfield and Warren Foegele each had a goal and an assist for the Kings (18-9-3), who are 2-1-0 on a seven-game road trip that will keep them away from Crypto.com Arena until after Christmas. Kings goaltender Darcy Kuemper wasn’t tested often before the outcome was all but decided, finishing with 31 saves as he improved to 7-2-3 this season and 9-4-0 in his career against the Rangers.
It was a disappointment, to say the least, for the Rangers. They were hoping to build on a 3-2 road win against the Buffalo Sabres; instead, they’ll begin a three-game road trip Sunday against the St. Louis Blues trying to rebound from one of their worst efforts of the season.
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Los Angeles Kings 5 – New York Rangers 1
The Rangers, as longtime NHL coach Mike Babcock would say, didn’t start on time. The Kings controlled the puck for all but a sliver of the opening period, keeping most of the play inside the Rangers’ zone and making life simple for Kuemper.
Los Angeles generated three shots on its first power play after Adam Edstrom took a careless high-sticking penalty 4:10 into the game. The Kings didn’t score with the extra man, but they did take the lead 55 seconds after the power play ended.
Anze Kopitar broke up a play in his own zone and made a quick breakout pass to Kempe that caught Jones and Alexis Lafreniere out of position, triggering a 2-on-1 break. Kempe carried into the zone and made a perfect pass to Turcotte, who hit a half-empty net at 7:05 for a 1-0 lead. According to Steve Valiquette of MSG Networks, it was the league-high 14th goal allowed by the Rangers on a 2-on-1.
Connor Mackey, recalled from AHL Hartford after K’Andre Miller went on injured reserve with an upper-body injury sustained in the win at Buffalo on Wednesday, tried to get his team and the Garden crowd into the game when he dropped the gloves with Samuel Helenius at 7:58. Each landed some shots before the fight was broken up.
But the Kings continues to dominate play and made it 2-0 at 15:06. Byfield, taken with the No. 2 pick (after Lafreniere) in the 2020 NHL Draft, outmuscled Braden Schneider behind the net and got the puck to Foegele in the slot. Shesterkin stopped Foegele’s first shot, but the four Rangers in front of the net stood and watched him knock the rebound into the net.
The Kings ended up outshooting the Rangers 17-8 in the period and out-attempting them 31-15. The Rangers hurt themselves by committing 10 giveaways. According to Natural Stat Trick, the Kings had a 10-3 margin in scoring chances and a 2-0 edge in high-danger chances.
“It was a horrendous first period,” he said. “The first period needs to be a whole lot better than what it was with regard to our energy, out execution, our speed, our attitude – all of that needed to be a lot better.
“To start a game like this in our building after some of the games we’ve played in this building – it’s bad. A bad start right from the very beginning. … It’s frustrating and disappointing to start a game like that.”
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The Rangers had a 2-on-1 of their own early in the second period while killing a penalty, but Kuemper stopped Sam Carrick when he cut in from the right circle.
Then the roof fell in.
Byfield made it 3-0 at 2:46, ripping a quick release from the right of the slot past Shesterkin after none of the defenders in the area made an effort to tie up Byfield’s stick. Kempe scored one of the easiest goals he’ll ever get at 4:40; he was left alone in the slot by four Rangers and dunked a behind-the-back pass from Kopitar into a wide-open net.
Kempe’s goal hadn’t even been announced before Danault made it 5-0. With his teammates again standing around and watching, Shesterkin made a terrific save on Brandt Clarke’s wide-open shot from the slot. But no one picked up Danault, who was all alone to the right of the net and rifled home the rebound.
“We need to knock some people down,” Laviolette said.
The Rangers picked up their play after Quick replaced Shesterkin and finally got on the board when Filip Chytil’s pass from the right boards appeared to hit the skate of Kings defenseman Mikey Anderson and slid past Kuemper. New York dominated the rest of the period but couldn’t get another puck past Kuemper, leaving the Rangers down four goals as they skated off the ice to the sound of more boos.
The third period was largely garbage time, with the Rangers pushing the play but having little success against a team allowing an average of 2.54 goals per game, the third-lowest GAA in the NHL. The Garden sounded more like a church than the “World’s Most Famous Arena” during the final 20 minutes.
“It’s tough to have a positive attitude after a game like this,” center Vincent Trocheck said.
The loss keeps the Rangers outside of a playoff position in the Eastern Conference as they prepare to play four of their five remaining games before the Christmas break on the road.
Laviolette and his coaching staff won’t have much time to find answers before his team takes the ice at Enterprise Center on Sunday evening. But they’ll have to do something to spark a team that’s lost three home games in seven days — two of them with desultory efforts that left fans booing them off the ice.
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