Rangers must be ‘bit harder to play against’ after preseason loss to Devils
There were times in the first period of their 3-1 preseason loss Thursday that the New York Rangers appeared to be getting run out of Madison Square Garden by the New Jersey Devils.
Stuck in their own end defending shift after shift, the Rangers barely crossed center ice during that fast-paced opening period, which featured few whistles and almost exclusive puck ownership by the Devils.
Though the eye test wasn’t pretty, the Rangers actually acquitted themselves pretty darn well. Without requiring heroics from goalie Jonathan Quick to save them, the Rangers escaped the first period trailing 1-0. Moreover, despite a brutal 17.09 percent expected goal share, per Natural Stat Trick, the Rangers surrendered just three shots on goal and were only outchanced 5-4.
They rarely had the puck for any stretch of time and managed only two shots of their own, but the Rangers defended smartly, blocked shots, and weren’t caught running around in their own end.
The biggest concern is that the Devils won way too many puck battles.
“We got going the more the game went on. A bit of a slow start,” Rangers forward Adam Edstrom said postgame. “I still think we need to play a bit more physical and be a bit harder to play against. … But it’s the start of something and gotta keep building on that.”
Edstrom talked the talk and walked the walk. helping the Rangers turn things around in the second period. The 6-foot-7 forward shadowed Devils defenseman Simon Nemec on one shift and was rewarded for his efforts. Nemec flubbed a clearing attempt, firing the puck off Edstrom’s skate near the net and past startled goaltender Jacob Markstrom to tie the score 1-1 at 13:30.
Later in the period, Edstrom swept a Vincent Trocheck pass from between the circles on goal, forcing Markstrom to make a sharp save. The Rangers out-shot the Devils 12-3, and out-chanced them 12-9, in the second. They flipped the script and had a 76.64 percent goal share.
“I thought there were some really positive things to build on and I think there’s a lot of opportunity for us to improve and get better,” coach Mike Sullivan said. “I think there were moments in the game when we were dictating the terms, so to speak. There were moments we were on our heels. But I thought there were a lot of positive things we can build on.”
Rangers still have thing to ‘clean up’ before regular season begins
Though they eventually lost after allowing an Ondrej Palat power-play goal and an empty-netter by Dawson Mercer in the third period, the Rangers did some good things overall Thursday. They limited the Devils to 12 shots on goal, blocked another 18 shot attempts (four by Vladislav Gavrikov), and out-hit their opponents 22-18 (six credited to Trocheck, five by Mika Zibanejad).
And that was without Fox, J.T. Miller, Artemi Panarin, Sam Carrick, nor Urho Vaakanainen in the lineup.
“I felt we started a little slow, but then we got going,” defenseman Will Borgen noted. “I thought we did a lot of good things, couple things we’ve got to clean up.”
One concerning trend in the preseason is that the Rangers have been outscored 10-0 in the the third period. They’ve blown three third-period leads (1-1-1) and the lost Thursday after entering the third tied 1-1.
The Rangers play their final preseason game Saturday afternoon at TD Garden against the Boston Bruins. It’s not known if Miller, Panarin, or Carrick — each sidelined with a lower-body-injury — will play.
Panarin was a late scratch Thursday, a precautionary move, per Sullivan. The 33-year-old star hasn’t played at all in the preseason. Miller and Carrick have each played one game.
