Rangers tie 70-year-old mark for shot futility in 2-1 loss to Senators: takeaways
On a night that began by celebrating one of the most productive scorers in franchise history, the New York Rangers tied a dubious franchise record when they recorded just nine shots on goal in a 2-1 loss to the Ottawa Senators at Madison Square Garden on Monday.
After Mika Zibanejad was joined on the ice by his parents, wife, and daughter, and received a silver stick for playing his 1,000th NHL game, the 32-year-old led the Rangers with three shots on goal in his milestone contest, ironically against the team that drafted him sixth overall in 2011.
That Zibanejad’s teammates slept-walked through most of the contest and managed only six other shots on goal, was fairly excruciating to watch. The nine shots equaled a Rangers record for futility, originally set more than 70 years ago in a December 11, 1955 game against the Detroit Red Wings.
If not for Igor Shesterkin, who finished with 31 saves, the Rangers (28-34-9) would’ve been blown out of this game by the hungrier Senators. It clearly looked like what it was: the last-place Rangers are playing out the string in a massively disappointing season; the desperate Senators snagged two valuable standings points and are now two points out of the second wild card in the Eastern Conference.
The Rangers were out-shot 13-2 in each of the first two periods, yet Shesterkin surrendered only one goal in the first period and another in the second. So, their deficit was a manageable 2-0 heading into period number three.
Long Island’s own Shane Pinto scored a power-play goal at 6:30 of the first period, whipping a quick shot from the slot between Shesterkin’s pads after taking a feed from Claude Giroux. The shots on goal were 5-0 Ottawa at that point, and by time New York actually managed its first shot on goal, 13:49 ticked off the game clock in the opening period.
That’s after Ottawa already pumped 11 shots at Shesterkin, and rang the post twice. Jordan Spence wired a right-wing shot off iron at 8:44, and Tyler Kleven slapped one from left wing that clanged off where the post and cross-bar come together at 11:40.
The Senators cashed in a Connor Mackey turnover to make it 2-0 at 6:46 of the second period. Lars Eller picked off a failed clearing attempt, skated in on left wing, then set up Warren Foegele for his fifth goal in nine games since the forward was acquired from the Los Angeles Kings earlier this month.
Shesterkin made a terrific lunging right-pad save to deny Dylan Cozens late in the second period on a breakaway. Then at 4:39 of the third period, Shesterkin came up big again, when he stoned Pinto off a 2-on-1 short-handed rush with Tim Stutzle.
That allowed the Rangers to stay in the game, and Conor Sheary cut the deficit in half, when he scored his fourth goal, and third in the past eight games, at 7:03 of the final period. The veteran forward got a step on Pinto, went straight to the net, and buried a feed off the wall from Tye Kartye.
The goal came on New York’s seventh shot of the night, 21 fewer than Ottawa’s total at that point.
Shesterkin made a trio of big-time saves, including one after Eller split the Rangers defensemen for a Grade-A chance, to keep the score 2-1 roughly five minutes later.
Zibanejad had a chance to play a hero in the final minutes, but didn’t convert a decent opportunity, and the Rangers failed to get the equalizer even after killing off a Senators power play and pulling Shesterkin for a sixth attacker with under two minutes to play.
It was New York’s fifth straight loss (0-4-1), and followed a 3-2 shootout defeat against the Winnipeg Jets at MSG on Sunday afternoon.
Key takeaways after Rangers lose 2-1 to Senators
1. Rangers ‘outcompeted’ on all levels
The Rangers are notorious for their slow starts this season. Heck, they no-showed for the opening 20 minutes against the Jets just the day before. But this, this was really ugly Monday. And it lasted most of the game, much less the first period.
Ottawa was faster, more physical, and simply hungrier. They deserved to win by a lot more than one goal — yes, Shesterkin was that good.
That this effort occurred on Zibanejad’s special night certainly pissed off Rangers captain J.T. Miller, who didn’t exonerate himself either.
“Quite simply, they just outcompeted us today from the puck drop,” Miller said postgame. “Sometimes we talk about [how] you lose the game but can sleep at night. You feel good on the drive home. Tonight, it shouldn’t feel good.”
2. To make matters worse …
As if managing nine shots on goal over 60 minutes of play isn’t bad enough, let’s add this doozy of a nugget. The Senators played without injured star defenseman Jake Sanderson, who typically logs roughly 25 minutes a game and has 48 points in 62 games this season. Oh, and Nick Jensen and Dennis Gilbert were missing from the blue line, too.
But wait, there’s more!
Thomas Chabot was slashed on the arm by Miller in the first period, and was ruled out for the rest of the night at the start of the second. Then two shifts into the middle frame, Lassi Thomson, making his season debut, exited with a lower-body injury.
So, the Senators played more than half the game with four defensemen, and their No. 1 blueliner didn’t dress for this one at all. And they allowed nine shots on goal anyway.
That’s just a damning state of facts against the Rangers, even while acknowledging how well the Senators forwards fore-checked and relentlessly won puck battles, while diligently getting back defensively.
Stick taps to the remaining Ottawa defensemen: Spence, who logged a game-high 26:44 TOI for Ottawa, Kleven (24:33), Artem Zub (23:44), and Nikolas Matinpalo (18:19).
3. Bright spot, sort of
The Rangers didn’t help themselves by taking eight minor penalties in this one, including double-minor high-sticking infractions by Miller and Vincent Trocheck, the latter late in the third period. But after surrendering a goal on Ottawa’s first power play of the game, New York killed off six straight power plays. And did so, largely in convincing manner.
Of course, you can argue that one PPG was the difference in a 2-1 loss. And most definitely any sliver of positive momentum the Rangers built, particularly in the second period, was blunted by their parade to the penalty box.
Trocheck was assessed three minor penalties, and his double-minor (including a coincidental minor with Ottawa’s Matinpalo) late in the third kept him off the ice, when he would’ve taken key face-offs in a game the Rangers trailed by only one goal.
A pair of delay of game penalties by Juuso Parssinen (in the first period) and Mackey (in the second) were each caused by rushing clearing attempts under duress by the voracious Ottawa forwards.
